Queen’s College students top CSEC, CAPE 2020

By Rupa Seenaraine

Two Queen’s College students, Bhedesh Persaud and Zayn Ramotar, on Friday emerged as the country’s top performers at the 2020 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE), respectively.
Much anticipation surrounded the delayed results, which were virtually announced by Education Minister Priya Manickchand and Chief Education Officer Marcel Hutson on Friday.
Bhedesh Persaud, who scored a whopping 22 Grade Ones and One Grade Two, has already moved on to CAPE studies and told Guyana Times when contacted that he was pleased with the results.
“I’m very happy but at the same time, I wasn’t thinking about it too much because I was focused on CAPE, which is what I’m doing now. But I’m grateful. That is the reason I worked hard so that the results could be in favour,” the top student related.
His mother, Kamani Harlal on the other hand, was ecstatic, as she had placed high confidence in his capabilities.
“I’m very happy. His hard work paid off. What I can say is that Bhedesh is a very hard worker and as a family, we celebrate his success. He is a dedicated worker. Before COVID, he was almost finished preparing for that exam and he was passionate about excelling. I had expected great things,” his mom expressed.
Securing the second spot was Duvina Seurattan of the Anna Regina Secondary School who secured 19 Grade Ones and two Grade Twos. When contacted, the 17-year-old science student noted that the level of excitement was surreal, especially since it was written during the pandemic.
“I felt very elated and I was very much satisfied because my prime objective was to make my parents proud and I attained that…It was challenging prepping for one of the most important exams during the pandemic,” Seurattan said, as she contemplates a career in chemical engineering.
The Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) school also copped the third place, taken by Swasti Saytoo with 18 Grade Ones and three Grade Twos. She told this publication that the delayed results somewhat dampened her eagerness but nevertheless, she was thankful.
“It’s been an entire year since we waited for it to be released so the level of excitement isn’t there but I am happy…I was in the science stream. I have a passion for anything with math and physics. Right now, I am applying for a college in Canada to do engineering. That’s my passion,” the Zorg resident highlighted.
Speaking on her experience in the examination room, Saytoo detailed, “Even though people would say it is multiple choice and it’s not challenging, it really was because even though your teachers would have taught you one thing, sometimes CXC might not mark for that answer. It’s like either you get it wrong or you get it right, no paper two to fill you up for those marks.”
Geveshwar Rajkishore of Saraswati Vidya Niketan came in fourth with 18 Grade Ones and one Grade Two; followed by Reyan Khemraj from JC Chandisingh Secondary School with 17 Grade Ones and three Grade Twos.
Other students in the top 10 included Shivnarine Chaitraim, Shivshankar Chaitram, Atishta Seenarine and Chaitra Singh from the Saraswati Vidya Niketan; and Tabitha Alves from Abram Zuil Secondary School.

CAPE
Queen’s College also managed to take the top spot at CAPE and the student behind this achievement is Zane Ramotar. The 19-year-old who is planning to study abroad has big plans for his future. However, placing first in the country did not come as a surprise to him.
“It was something that I really wanted to achieve. Added to the excitement was the fact that this announcement came out of the blue. We didn’t know the results would be coming out. I’m really happy about the outcome of the results…When they announced last year, it was basically put that I was at the top of our year one sitting so my foot was already halfway through the door. I expected the outcome,” Ramotar told Guyana Times.
In second place was Naomi Cambridge of St Rose’s High, followed by Christian Pile of Queen’s College in third place.
Pile, a former CSEC top student, posited “I’m proud of myself and what I would have done at the exam. Now at least we can move on from the exam because for a while, we had just been wondering what’s happening with the results and stuff like that. So, I’m happy with my performance.”
He is also planning to pursue studies overseas later this year.
The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) initiated a review of the 2020 results after students across several countries made a formal request for their grades to be rechecked, owing to inconsistencies. The Council had committed to complete the process by January 2021, but this failed owing to the coronavirus lockdown, which affected its Barbados headquarters.
Minister Manickchand noted on Thursday that comprehensive statistics on the exams are yet to be provided by the regional examinations body.
“Ordinarily, we would announce all the students who got 12 Grade Ones and more. But because there are still some outstanding reviews from CXC that we have not yet received, we are reluctant at this point to announce those names. I wish to say to those students…that as soon as we have that information, we will announce it publicly and celebrate you,” the Minister underscored.