Guyana tops Caribbean at CSEC, CAPE for 5th consecutive year

In a monumental record, Guyana has topped the Caribbean for the fifth consecutive year at both at the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination, the Education Ministry announced on Friday.
Alex Muntaz of the Anna Regina Secondary and Naresh Jagnanan of Queen’s College have been named the Most Outstanding Students overall in the Region at CSEC and CAPE, respectively.

Muntaz had clinched 23 Grade Ones and four Grade Twos at the examinations while Jagnanan scored nine Grade Ones and one Grade Two at CAPE.
Across the Region at CSEC, Siddiq Gafar of the ISA Islamic School is the Most Outstanding Student in Business; Nailah Rahaman from Queen’s College is the Most Outstanding Student in Humanities; and Abigail Stephanas from Queen’s College is Most Outstanding Student in Science. Muntaz also copped the Most Outstanding Student in TVET subjects.
Virendra Dookie of the Saraswati Vidya Niketan is the country’s Second Most Outstanding Student at CSEC.
At CAPE, Jagnanan is also the Most Outstanding Student in Business Studies, and Joshua Gulab of Queen’s College is the Second Most Outstanding Student for CAPE.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand made the announcement on Friday, sharing that this achievement is an indication of how well the sector is performing.
“We always performed well at CSEC but we struggled a little bit with copping the top awards at CAPE…I couldn’t be happier. It can only get better. We’re working to ensure that what you do here is what each of every child can do in this country,” she relayed.
Across the country, a total of 12,118 students sat the CSEC examinations, an increase from 10,368 in 2022. There were 75,764 entries. Overall, the pass rate was 65 per cent this year, a decline from 68.5 per cent last year.
Meanwhile, a total of 701 students from 12 secondary schools and four private centres sat the CAPE exams. There are 17 examination centres in Guyana. From 671 entries in 2022, this increased to 701 across units in 29 subject areas.
In 2022, Atishta Seenarine of the Saraswati Vidya Niketan School was the Caribbean’s Most Outstanding CAPE student while Uotam Heeralall of Anna Regina Secondary was the overall CSEC top performer.
In 2021, Guyana took home the regional top awards following the outstanding performance of Samuel Hayes and Zaynab Shaffie – both of Queen’s College – at CAPE and CSEC, respectively.
Again, in 2020, Queen’s College students – Bhedesh Persaud and Zane Ramotar were the top CSEC and CAPE students for the Caribbean.
In 2019, Michael Bhopaul of Queen’s College was the Region’s overall top CAPE performer while Rianna Toney of Anna Regina Secondary was the overall top CSEC student. (Rupa Roopnaraine)