Saraswati Vidya Niketan (SVN) has released its preliminary analysis of the 2020 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) results, showing that the institution has recorded an improved performance. 
This year, 61 students – 42 females and 19 males – sat the CSEC examinations, the school said on Saturday, adding that the school has recorded an overall pass of 96.6 per cent, as compared to 95.8 per cent in 2019.
SVN, the release noted, has an open policy for admissions, “meaning that we admit any student regardless of the score obtained at the NGSA examinations. The average NGSA score for these students is 471, the highest being 526 and the lowest 360.”
According to the school’s administration, on account of COVID-19, there was no physical contact with students from the beginning of March, though the Education Ministry allowed students and teachers to return to school for a period of one month prior to the commencement of the exams.
The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), the release noted, decided to change the format of the examinations as well, pointing out that for every subject excepting Spanish, there was a single multiple-choice paper which, along with the School-Based Assessment (SBA), was the basis for the awarding of grades.
This, it added, was no doubt a cause of great concern, and the school’s administration was eager to see what would be the variation from previous years. “
We are happy to announce that the results of 2020 were very much in line with the results of previous years at SVN. While we had very limited physical contact with students, we were able to quickly put in place an aggressive online programme, not only for the class of 2020 but for the entire school as well. The main hindrance in the online delivery had to do with students not having computers and internet access. Frequent power outage also posed a great challenge.”
It added that for matriculation purposes, a student must pass a minimum of five subjects which must include English Language and Mathematics. In 2020, there is 100 per cent pass in English Language, but in Mathematics, three students failed, resulting in the pass grade of 95.08 per cent, which is an improvement over 2019 with 91.86 per cent.
“This means that 58 out of 61 students matriculated giving an overall 95.08% as against 90.70% in 2019. Of the 58 students who matriculated, 56 did so with 10 subjects and more,” the school said.
Over the years, it noted, special attention is paid to its students with the lowest National Grade Six Assessment (Common Entrance) scores, stating that two of its students, Chris and Christal Dundas, siblings from St Cuthbert’s Mission who had NGSA scores of 360 and 384 respectively, matriculated with 14 and 13 subjects each, while a third student, Said Jeffers (NGSA 401) did so with nine subjects and Nishida Persaud (NGSA 419) with 13 subjects including five grade ones and five grade twos.
“Three students came to SVN without any NGSA reference: Shivani Ramautar, who passed in all the 14 subjects she took and Ziphena Bailey and Nalini Ramnarine of the Prabhu Sharan Home at Cornelia Ida gained 10 (3 Grade Ones, 5 Grade Two’s and 2 Grade Threes) and 5 subjects respectively. We take this opportunity to congratulate these students and wish them well in their future undertakings.”
