CHAIRPERSON of the Regional Education Committee, Shaleenie Sukdeo, has informed the Region Two Regional Democratic Council (RDC) that the Anna Regina Multilateral Secondary School (ARMS) will soon be offering the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).
She made this disclosure while reading the committee’s report to the RDC at its May 12 statutory meeting.

Sukdeo informed the councillors that the Department of Education is hoping to commence the CAPE programme in September 2021. A building in the compound of the school will be rehabilitated to house CAPE students and teachers.

Meanwhile, Region Two Chairperson Vilma De Silva said that she is happy with this development, since most of the online courses being offered through the government’s Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) initiative require participants to have at least two CAPE subjects.

De Silva said this requirement puts the region’s students at a disadvantage, since there is no Sixth Form school to offer CAPE.
The Guyana Chronicle was informed by the Regional Education Officer Nichola Matthews that the Department of Education had conducted a feasibility study for the exam and a building has been identified.

Matthews explained to this publication that Law and Business Administration are the subjects that will be offered to students attaining five subjects and over, including Mathematics and English at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination.
Those two subjects will be available to students from all the secondary schools in Region Two.

The Department of Education is now tasked with furnishing the building and ensuring that the school is provided with the necessary curriculum guides.
The Guyana Chronicle was also informed that the region has achieved universal secondary education status and that communities in the Upper and Lower Pomeroon River have a secondary school, as opposed to an annex.

Headmaster of the Anna Regina Multilateral Secondary School, Lalljeet Rooplall, said that many students are excited to commence the CAPE programme. He said that ARMS is happy to be offering CAPE subjects which will help to enhance the education level of the region’s students.

Students who recently completed their CSEC studies are very excited about this new venture and are calling on the relevant stakeholders to speed up the process.