Anna Regina boy tops Guyana at CSEC

Aug 25, 2023 News

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Kaieteur News – Preliminary results of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certification (CSEC) examination for this year revealed that an Anna Regina Multilateral Secondary School (ARMSS) student, Alex Muntaz topped the country with 27 subjects- 23 Grade ones and four Grade twos.

This is according to Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand who on Thursday released this year’s results at the Anna Regina Secondary School, in Region Two. This is the second year in a row that the Anna Regina Secondary School copped the top spot at CSEC.

Cautioning that this is only the “preliminary results” and not yet official results the Minister also revealed that coming in second was Virendra Dookie of Saraswati Vidya Niketan who wrote 20 subjects and gained 19 Grade Ones and one Grade Two.

The third position was copped by Anna Regina Secondary’s Suriya Walcott who wrote 25 subjects and gained 18 Grade Ones, six Grade Twos and one Grade Three.

The minister explained, “I want to make it clear that CXC [Caribbean Examinations Council] dubs these preliminary results, they’re not final results. They are preliminary for a reason. Every student is afforded the opportunity for a fee of course to review their Grades if they are unhappy about it. A process happens that have that Grade reviewed and it can change, so that is why these are preliminary results.”

Among the top 10 students are : Kuntie Singh of Abram Zuil Secondary School who wrote 23 subjects and gained 18 Grade Ones and five Grade Twos (fourth); Murizio Mangra of ARMSS who wrote 27 subjects and acquired 17 Grade Ones and 10 Grade Twos (fifth); Arthur Roberts of Queen’s College wrote 23 subjects and gained 17 Grade Ones, five Grade Twos and one Grade Three (sixth); Mariah Sookram of Saraswati Vidya Niketan wrote 21 subjects and gained 17 Grade Ones, three Grade Twos and one Grade Three (seventh); Naila Rahaman of Queen’s College who wrote 20 subjects gained 17 Grade Ones, two Grade Twos and one Grade Three (eighth); Tashmee Ganesh of Queen’s College who wrote 20 subjects and gained 17 Grade Ones and three Grade twos (ninth); and Noah Aryan Persaud of Queen’s College who wrote 20 subjects and gained 17 Grade Ones and three Grade Twos (tenth).

Minister Manickchand in her brief remarks on Thursday congratulated the students on their performances and told them that being able to complete their full secondary journey through the effects of the global pandemic “means you are already a winner.”

“For me the fact that you made it to fifth form or grade 11 and wrote these exams when we just came out of a pandemic that saw millions of children across the world existing prematurely high school, means you are already a winner. The Government of Guyana is putting all kinds of measures in place to make sure children who exist successfully and do well can move on to tertiary training and education in any field that you want. But we are also making sure that we have in place for the children who did not exist successfully that there all kinds of programs that  will ensure that this is not the end of your academic journey,” she said.

At this year’s exams it was mentioned that a total of 12,118 students registered for the May/June sitting as compared to 10,368 that registered last year.

An analysis of the 2023 preliminary results revealed that the overall pass rate at the General and Technical proficiencies for Grades One to Three declined to 65% as compared to 2022 which had 68.5% pass rate.

It was noted by the ministry’s Chief Education Officer (CEO) Saddam Hussain that improved performance at CSEC was evident in 14 subjects and remained constant in five subjects, which included Mathematics and English.

Speaking with the media after learning of his preliminary results, top performer Muntaz said “I feel accomplished, I feel good, it’s mostly overwhelming.” He noted that moving forward he wants a scholarship to study overseas.

“I want to study in probably the medical or engineering field,” he added. Muntaz encouraged those who will be sitting the exams next year to have good time management and to do all their SBAs very early, because that was one of the difficulties he faced which delayed him from studying. The young man yesterday credited his success to his parents, teachers, lessons teachers and friends.

Another top performer, Tashmee Ganesh of Queen’s College said, “I feel proud of myself to know I put in the effort and I did my best in all my exams.”

She said from CSEC she has applied to the University of Guyana for a four-year programme to do petroleum engineering. An elated Ganesh yesterday credited her achievement to her teachers, herself, parents, and friends.

Ganesh’s mother, who is a teacher at the Enmore Primary School expressed that the family is very proud of her daughter’s performance at the exams. She said her daughter worked hard to get where she is today.

“She work hard, we never forced her, we allowed her to do the subjects she wanted to do and just let her explore, the subjects that she did were the subjects that she loved and I am very proud of her,” the woman said.

Another student, Virendra Dookie of Saraswati Vidya Niketan told the media that he credits his success to being diligent throughout his five years at school and to his parents, teachers, and friends for all the hard work they put in.

“Now I plan to pursue a degree in civil engineering at the University of Guyana,” he added.

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• Anna Regina Secondary, Caribbean Secondary Education Certification (CSEC), Kuntie Singh, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand

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