T&T will be well represented at the Caribbean Examination Council’s (CXC) regional top awards presentation in Jamaica in December after winning seven of the nine awards in the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE). This includes the award for the most outstanding student overall, which went to Naparima Girls’ High School student Sushma Karim. Boasting of T&T’s prowess in education at the weekly post-Cabinet briefing, Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh said it was one of the best academic years in T&T’s history. Eight students also got top awards from CXC last year but Gopeesingh said the 2014 results represented a ten per cent improvement in students getting grades one to three passes over the last four years.
Providing statistics, he said in 93.4 per cent of unit one students achieved passes, while in unit two there was a pass rate of 93.1 per cent. He added that there was an overall improvement in 11 subjects compared to 2013 figures. In the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations, T&T students got three of the eight awards up for grabs. These were in visual arts, two dimension, visual arts, three dimension and short story. He said the percentage of students in 2014 who were successful in five or more subjects at CSEC improved by 10.3 per cent over 2013 figures and there was an overall improvement in 19 CSEC subjects in 2014.
In recognition of their achievement, CXC will present these students with awards at a ceremony in Jamaica on December 4. Gopeesingh denied Sunday Guardian columnist Maxie Cuffie’s allegation that national scholarships were being given out in secrecy. Responding to the article, he said the ministry had to wait for the CXC marks which were received on October 15. He said those results were used by the scholarship committee to determine who got the President’s Medals and other scholarships. He said: “This unfortunate, misleading issue has been taken up by the Leader of the Opposition as well, and we are wondering to what intent. “Does it mean that they are deliberately telling the most brilliant students who won the scholarships, 447 of them, or telling their parents, their families, their teachers or their principals, that they did not really work hard for it? So you have achieved your scholarship by secret?” he asked. “We deny that categorically on behalf of all our students who have won, by merit, their scholarships.”
He dubbed the article deliberate, mischievous and false, saying it was a calculated effort to provide false information to the public by creating hype. There had been no change in the criteria used by the ministry in determining scholarship winners from past years, he said.
MOST OUTSTANDING CANDIDATES
CAPE
• Sushma Karim, Naparima Girls’ High School, most outstanding candidate overall in the region.
• Sharla Goolcharan, Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu College, business studies.
• Mandela Patrick, Naparima College, information and communication technology and in mathematics.
• Ranita Mathura, St Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando, environmental science.
• Arifa Satnarine, St Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando, modern languages.
• Celeste Jaggai, Naparima Girls’ High School, technical studies.
CSEC
• Kriston Mohammed, Tunapuna Secondary School, best short story.
• Shivanna Sookdeo, Naparima Girls’ High School, visual arts 2, dimension.
• Nneka Jones, Bishop’s High School, visual arts 3, dimension.
