Navindra Baldeo is Caribbean’s top Science performer

Dec 18, 2010 News

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Although Guyana was not able to cop the top Caribbean Examination Council award for this year, it certainly was duly awarded for the most outstanding performance in the area of Science.
And it was Queen’s College student Navindra Baldeo who claimed the coveted award for Guyana with his remarkable performance. He secured grade one passes in six Science subjects namely Agricultural Science, Biology, Chemistry, Information Technology, Integrated Science and Physics. He also achieved grade one passes in English A, English B, Geography, Electronic Document Preparation and Management and Human and Social Biology as well as a grade two pass in French.

The 17-year-old was listed among the top performers when CXC unveiled the results of the 2010 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Examination in August. And an awards ceremony was held in the Turks and Caicos earlier this month to honour the outstanding performers.
Aside from a plaque detailing his outstanding performance, Baldeo was also presented with a full scholarship to study medicine at the University of the West Indies.
After completed CSEC at Queen’s College Baldeo had commenced attending classes for the Cambridge Examination at The School of the Nations and it was during classes, he recounted, that he received a call from his Science teacher “to come over to Queen’s College…My mom left work immediately and I left school and we saw the letter from CXC to the school informing that I had topped in Science.”
“l really wasn’t expecting it because there were other people (students) who usually did better than me…but the experience was really good to meet the other awardees and CXC officials. It was really something for me to represent my school and country; it was inexplicable.”
Baldeo said that he is satisfied to move on academically knowing that his name will always be remembered at Queen’s College even after he leaves its confines.
He plans to complete the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination at Queen’s College before heading to UWI. Baldeo’s advice to other students is that “regardless of what background you come from, once you are really determined and you have the right support and believe in God, anything your mind can conceive you can achieve.”
According to Head of the Science Department at Queen’s College, Navindra Haridyal, this is the fifth consecutive year that Queen’s College has copped the most outstanding science award for the Caribbean at the CSEC level.
“We are extremely proud of him. He secured 12 grade ones and one grade two. Even though we had students that got 15 grade ones his raw scores were more impressive.”
And the achievement was no small feat, as according to Haridyal, Baldeo was able to perform exceptionally even though he was raised by a single parent, Bibi Baldeo, who spared no resources to ensure that her son came out on top academically.
“His mother is a very hard working woman and she sacrificed for his education…She did everything in her power to give him the needed assistance. She would come to the school and ask the teachers to mark his work just to ensure that it was done correctly.”
In 2006 Valencia Bailey was able to cop the coveted Science Award, then Wanella Isaacs in 2007, a feat which was repeated in 2008 by Aaron Haralsingh and then Padmini Roshandatt last year. According to Haridyal who has been teaching at Queen’s College for the past five years, the commendable results were only achieved through hard work on the part of both teachers and students.
“It’s hard work…Some people think that because it is Queen’s College everything is bright and beautiful but we have problems as it relates to resources just as any other school but we try to make do with what we have.”
He admits, though, that although the same syllabus is followed across schools, Queen’s College has not only extended its teaching periods but also has a policy to assist students when the need arises after hours as well.
Queen’s College had for the past four years copped the award for Overall Performance at CSEC, an award which was this year bestowed on Belize’s St John’s College student, Dorien Villafranco.
His performance was instrumental in causing the school to receive the CSEC School of the year award, an achievement which was held by Queen’s College for the past four years.
She’niele Grant of Wolmers Girls’ School in Jamaica was awarded for being the Most Outstanding Candidate in Business Education while another Jamaican, Ayala Bennett, of Ardenne High School, copped the Most Outstanding Candidate award in the area of Humanities.
A third Jamaican, Adrian Kellyman of Seaforth High, secured for himself the award for Most Outstanding student in Visual Arts, 2-Dimensional work. Another Visual Arts award was presented to Hemawati Lochansing of Rio Claro West Secondary School in Trinidad and Tobago and Oliver Maynard of Presentation Boys’ College in Grenada received the award for the Most Outstanding Candidate in Technical/Vocational Education.
Meanwhile it was Zoie Hamilton of Washington Archibald High School in St Kitts and Nevis who copped the award for Best Short Story in the English A Examination this year.

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