-280 CSEC candidates secure at least eight grade ones
FOLLOWING a request from the Ministry of Education, the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) has identified 280 Guyanese candidates as having achieved eight or more grade ones after writing the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations earlier this year.

This was disclosed by Minister of Education Priya Manickchand on Thursday during the live announcement of the results.

These students hail from the Northwest Secondary, Abrahim Zuil Secondary, Aurora Secondary, West Demerara Secondary, Zeeburg Secondary, Camille’s Academy, Rosignol Secondary, Corentyne Comprehensive High, Berbice High, New Amsterdam Secondary, Three Mile Secondary, McKenzie High School, Queen’s College, The Bishops’ High, St. Stanislaus College, St. Roses High, St. Joseph’s High, New Central High, Brickdam Secondary, Mae’s Secondary, Josel Educational Institute, Chase’s Academy, Bacchus Learning Centre, among several others.

Of the 280 students, 59 candidates secured 12 grade ones, or more.

In addition to schools that are considered Guyana’s “top secondary” institutions, there were a few unknown schools that made the list this year, seeing some students with a high number of grade ones.

Najeeb Mohamed of Qayyim Academy, who did not expect to achieve 17 grade ones and three grade twos, said he was very elated to receive such results.

Najeeb said he wrote 20 subjects to have more career options and received lots of encouragement and the push from his parents, who believed in his ability to excel. Najeeb wants to pursue a career in the science field.

“I was originally a science student, but I incorporated business and all those other subjects because I had the ability, but I will very likely go into science. Like an engineering or medical sort of field,” he explained.

He said he has his eyes set on sitting his Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) at Queen’s College.

From the Tagore Memorial Secondary School, Youveta Sinclaire Boodram excelled in 20 subjects at CSEC. An aspiring doctor, she said she wrote those subjects to give herself a chance in other areas apart from science.

“I was a science student, so I chose to pick up some more of the subjects to give myself more of a variety to choose from in future careers,” Youveta explained.

Traditionally, fifth formers are the ones who sit the CSEC examinations. However, this year, there was a large number of fourth formers (Grade 10) students who sat this year’s exams.
One such fourth former, who has now matriculated high school, is Queen’s College student, Joshua McArthur. McArthur wrote nine subjects, securing eight grade ones and one grade two.

“Writing early. I feel like the main reason behind it was to finish school as fast as possible, I felt like I was capable of doing so and I did it,” McArthur said.

He plans to attend the University of Guyana, an institution that is now tuition free, where he will pursue his career in petroleum engineering.

“If you’re confident in writing in fourth form, I’d say go for it, but it takes a lot of commitment and hard work, especially if you didn’t start in third form like I did,” he advised.

Meanwhile, for CAPE, another top performer from Queen’s College, Sara Khan secured eight grade ones and one grade two.

“When I saw my results, I was happy. I plan to go on to study further and explore my options and see what I could do,” she said.

Micheal Henry excelled in 10 CAPE units. With his eyes set on civil engineering, Michael encouraged future CAPE students to use lots of past papers during the exam preparation period.