Latest update December 23rd, 2024 3:40 AM
PC remains non-resident Region Four ‘top school’
– offers residential places to hinterland students
While it remains one of the top national sixth form schools of the country, the qualifying score for entry into
Chief Education Officer, Mr. Olato Sam
President’s College (PC) remains the lowest. The cut-off score for admission into the Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara School this year was 493 marks.
Among the other top schools are Queen’s College with a cut off score of 517; the Bishops’ High School with a cut off score of 513; St Stanislaus College with a cut off score of 509; St Rose’s High with a cut off score of 506 and St Joseph High with a cut off score of 503.
Although it has been labelled the lowest of the ‘top schools’, PC was established under the People’s National Congress’s Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham regime as a school of excellence catering only to the best of the country’s performers. This intended standard was not retained under the subsequent People’s Progressive Party leadership. Thus, the school is today merely viewed as a Region Four ‘top school’ that also offers residential placement to some hinterland students.
This status of the school yet remains according Chief Education Officer, Olato Sam. He was speaking at a press conference last week to announce the results of the 2015 National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) and disclosed that for the past few years students from Regions One, Two, Five, Six, Seven, Nine and Ten, who earn the cut off score are awarded residential placement at the school.
Non-resident placement is also offered to students who hail from parts of Regions Four and Five who are able to secure the requisite score, according to Sam. “That is the practice that we have adopted for the past five years,” said the CEO of the President’s College placement policy.
Just last year former Education Minister, Priya Manickchand, told media operatives that PC was not functioning in the capacity it was designed for since “it is not meeting the needs of our children best.”
Manickchand however informed then, that the existing placement policy is one that is “actually serving more persons and more needy persons…”
She said that when PC started it served as an option for the top performers of the country many of whom had a preference to attend Queen’s College (QC). “You could’ve choose which one you wanted to go to, but what happened was that, you had a school that a lot of people were choosing…” recalled Manickchand who admitted to doing that herself.
“For example my entire family – brother, sister and I – we all got PC but we chose to go to QC; so you had the school (PC) heavily under populated but extremely expensive to run because it is a residential school, and while that was happening we had all these children from (Regions) One, Two, Five, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten who needed a good school to go to but couldn’t access it (because) it was only for the top echelon,” Manickchand observed.
But according to her, “We are in a different place now; even children who are getting Queen’s College are not coming to Queen’s College because there are schools in their communities that are providing such incredible education that they are choosing to stay at home.”
According to the CEO, currently the Ministry of Education has a keen focus on attaining universal secondary education. And he is optimistic that the course of action being implemented in this regard is already bearing fruit in terms of ensuring that all eligible children are placed at a secondary level school.
While there were no disclosures about plans to elevate the status of PC, recently appointed Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, did indicate his willingness to retain workable policies embraced by the previous administration. He has asserted that he has no intention of changing policies just for changing sake.
“What can be anticipated is the continuity of best practices. What works we will continue to do, what needs fixing we will fix, what has not worked at all we will abandon,” the Education Minister noted.
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