…Minister Shaik Baksh pleased with results
ANURADHA Dev  of Queen’s College, and Shalita Appadu of New Amsterdam Multilateral, are the top two performers at  this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination, achieving 15 Grade Ones each. Also in the top five are Mariesa Jagnanan, Jonelle James, and Asaf Mohamed, all of Queen’s College, each with 14 Grade Ones.

Nimela Govinda of Queen’s College, and Seriena Alli of Abram’s Zuil Secondary, secured 13 Grade Ones and one Grade Two each.

Nicholas Koylass and Amrita Milling of Queen’s College,  and Sanjiv Nandalal of Saraswati Vidya Niketan each secured 13 Grade Ones.

Statistics released yesterday by the Education Ministry show that Queen’s College achieved the highest overall pass rate with 98 percent, followed by Bishops’ High, 97.6 percent; President’s College, 96.9 percent;  Saraswati Vidya Niketan, 94.9 percent; Mae’s Secondary, 94.8 per cent; and McKenzie High, 94 percent.

Ninety seven of the 188 students who  secured Grade One passes in eight or  more subjects  are from Region 4 (Demerara/Mahaica), followed by Region  6, with 32;  Region 2 (Pomeroon/Supenaam) with 23; and Region 3 (Essequibo Islands /West Demerara) with 20.

Discussing the performance of the two top students at CSEC, Minister Baksh alluded to a news report in the Guyana Times which identified Anuradha  Dev  of Queen’s College  as the best performing CSEC student for 2011 in the country.

But the minister cautioned that the competent authority for deciding  who is the top CSEC student in the country was the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) and he was not aware that this body had passed judgement on this matter.

On this note, he cautioned the media to desist from speculation which can cause more harm than good.

CAPE RESULTS

Results for the Caribbean Proficiency Examination (CAPE) were also announced yesterday, with eight of the nine students who excelled coming from Queen’s College.

Queen’s College recorded the top performance through Youni Abdool and Kelly Ann Persaud, both of whom  obtained five Grade Ones and through six other students: Sophia King, Raphel Bascom, Stefan Farier, Kia Persaud, Sheniza Haniff and Kibwey Peterkin, who each obtained four Grade Ones.

Deondrene Holford, of Bishops’ High, with four Grade Ones, was the other student among the top nine performers at CAPE.

Minister Baksh reported that there have been marked improvements in the overall pass rates in this year’s CAPE and the CSEC Examinations when compared to 2010.

The pass rate for CSEC, among public schools, was 67.3 percent, compared with 66.2 percent in 2010.

At CAPE, there was a 2.61 per cent improvement this year, when compared to 2010; the 2011 pass rate being 82.5 per cent as against the 2010 pass rate of 80.4 percent.
There was a marked increase too,  in the numbers of students sitting these examinations this year.
A total of 12,731 candidates wrote the CSEC, with 8,166 from public schools and 4,565 from private schools.

There were 70,000 subject entries, compared with 62,945 in 2010, an increase of 13 percent.

At CAPE,   there were 627 candidates this year, as against 474 last year.
At CSEC, with respect to the important subjects, in  English A, there was a pass rate of 60.8 percent against 59.2 percent in 2010.

Minister Baksh said that this was an increase he was very satisfied with.

Theatre Arts and Physical Education and Sports stood out as the subjects with the highest percentage passed, 100 percent.

French (98 percent),  Home Economics Management (90 per cent), Agricultural Science (90 percent), Integrated Science (76 percent), Physics (70 percent), and Information Technology (73 percent) were among the other top performance areas.

Mathematics, however, recorded the lowest percentage, with 30.46 percent.

In a further analysis of the results, the Minister expressed satisfaction with the passes in all the subjects, with the exception of mathematics.

Pointing out that this was a problem plaguing, not only Guyana, but several other countries in the Caribbean, he  noted that achievement of good grades in mathematics continues to be a challenge.

He said that government will seek to employ qualified mathematics teachers from overseas.
At the CAPE examination, there were 100 per cent passes in nine of the subjects taken, 75 percent and higher in 22, and 50 per cent or higher in seven.

Only in three subjects was performance unsatisfactory,  these were Geometrical and Mechanical Engineering, Pure Mathematics and  Computer science.

The minister also expressed concern over the numerical imbalances between males and females as candidates for the CESC and CAPE exams.

At CSEC, 62 per cent of the candidates were females.
The figures were about the same for CAPE.

He disclosed that the ministry will continue to target males to encourage them to complete their secondary education.

The results for both the CSEC and CAPE Examinations can be accessed on the Caribbean Examinations Council Website.

Students can collect their results from the Ministry of Education from Tuesday.