DR IRFAAN ALI, on Wednesday, presented the President’s Award of Excellence to Geveshwar Rajkishore, the top graduating student of the Saraswati Vidya Niketan (SVN) School who achieved 18 grade ones and one grade two at last year’s CSEC examinations. Rajkishore was accompanied by his mother and a teacher at the simple ceremony, which was held at State House, a release from the Office of the President said.

The 17-year-old, who placed fourth overall in the country, said that he was elated but nervous about meeting President Ali. “I was very nervous, but he was very calm.” The youngster said that the President asked him about his examination journey during COVID-19 and his plans for the future.

Rajkishore credited the Cornelia Ida School for motivating him and announced that he was accepted at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, where he will be studying Electrical Engineering with a minor in computational mathematics.

The young scholar who is hoping to become a robotics specialist is set to leave Guyana soon to start his new school in August. The President’s Award of Excellence for SVN has been an ongoing award since 2005.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips, also presented three students of the Saraswati Vidya Niketan (SVN) school with the Prime Minister’s Award for attaining the school’s second-highest marks at last year’s CSEC examinations.
Atishta Seenarine and twin brothers Shivnarine and Shivshankar Chaitram were tied for the number two spot after they each attained 17 grade ones and two grade twos.

Overall, the Cornelia Ida School, West Coast Demerara did well, since the passing grade was 96.60 per cent. Some 64 SVN students wrote the CSEC exams last year.
Before awarding the students with certificates, Prime Minister Phillips congratulated them for their exceptional performance and wished them well in their future academic and professional endeavours.

The school established a tradition of a Prime Minister’s Award for its second-best graduating student and the President’s Award for its best graduating student in 2005 when its first batch of students graduated.
Also present during the simple ceremony in the boardroom of the Prime Minister’s Office, were the Deputy Principal of the school, Nirmala Singh and the parents of the outstanding students, a release from the Office of the Prime Minister said.