Guyana cops eight awards at CXC Regional Award Ceremony

Guyana on Thursday walked away with eight awards at the Caribbean Examinations Council’s (CXC) Regional Awards ceremony for the 202o Caribbean Secondary Examinations Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE).

In an invited comment, Minister of Education, Hon. Priya Manickchand said she is pleased with Guyana’s performance. 

Bhedesh Persaud and Zane Ramotar, both of Queen’s College, received the Most Outstanding Overall award for CSEC and CAPE respectively.

“I’m very pleased to say that again Guyana has copped the top CSEC award on the top CAPE award, so both of the top students in the entire Caribbean came from Guyana.

These are students we are very proud of. We are extremely pleased to be not only celebrating them here today, but holding their hands and supporting them and their families in the next step of their education and journey,” she said.

Guyana also received several individual awards. Bhedesh Persaud received the Most Outstanding in Sciences for CSEC award while Nyron Seoukienandan of St. Roses High School received the award for Most Outstanding in Business CSEC. Anthony Sukra of the New Amsterdam Secondary School received the Most Outstanding in Technical and Vocational Studies and Shania Sattaur of Brickdam Secondary School received the Most Outstanding in Principles of Accounts, both at the CSEC level.

Zane Ramotar received the Most Outstanding in Natural Sciences for CAPE.  Queen’s College also received the award for the Top School.

Minister Manickchand said the awards represent what can be achieved when investments are made in the education sector.

“The effort has to be that wherever students go to school, to whichever secondary school in whichever region, that if they apply themselves and they get the parental support we see from these parents here, they can do well, and they can talk and they can access tertiary education.”  

The Minister reiterated the Government’s commitment to invest heavily in the education sector to provide opportunities for persons to better themselves and achieve their goals.

“We have just launched the 20,000-scholarship programme so we are very committed to developing our middle class, adding more people to it which means taking more people out of poverty and out of the lower class,” she said.

Meanwhile, in his feature address, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Hon Gaston Browne urged the students to continue to pursue academic excellence and to use their knowledge to develop the Caribbean.

CAPE Overall Top performer, Zane Ramotar in brief remarks, acknowledged the dedication and hard work of all the stakeholders involved over the last year.

“This past academic year has been the strangest one in recent history for all of us here in the Caribbean and the world at large. However, despite the many trials and tribulations brought to both due to the COVID 19 pandemic, we as a Region have done our best in overcoming bad days and succeeding in all our endeavours.

On this basis I hereby acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the students, parents, teachers, ministries of education and CSEC in overcoming their hurdle of the year that 2020 was,” he said.

Over the last several years, Guyana has been performing exceptionally at CXC’s regional examinations.