[UPDATED] FIVE IN A ROW

LAKSHMI Girls Hindu College made it five in a row in this year’s Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) scholarship results, with student Celine Roodal winning one of the two President’s Medals yesterday. Roodal was the top performing student in environmental studies, information and communication technology, mathematics and natural science. Naparima Girls High School student Sharvaani Rampersad-Maharaj won the second President’s Medal as the top performing student in business studies, creative and performing studies, general studies, language studies, humanities and technical studies.

Lakshmi Girls also received 40 (15 open, 25 additional) of the 400 CAPE scholarships that were awarded.

At a news conference at his ministry’s office in Port of Spain, Education Minister Anthony Garcia said Cabinet approved the award of the scholarships. Commenting on Roodal’s performance, Garcia said this could be “either the fourth or fifth consecutive year” that a Lakshmi Girls student received the President’s Medal. He observed, “The students at that school continue to work very hard and I congratulate them.”

He also congratulated Rampersad-Maharaj and all the other students who received CAPE scholarships.

Asked whether the CAPE results showed that denominational schools continued to outperform government schools, Garcia said, “Our mantra in this education system is to ensure that quality education is provided to all our students.” The ministry, he continued, has embarked on a series of activities “to ensure that this quality education is done equitably.”

Under the dual education system in TT, Garcia explained that denominational churches provide secondary education side by side with government schools. Before independence in 1962, Garcia said denominational schools provided most of the secondary education in TT and their students have a tradition of “working and working hard.” The ministry is making efforts to improve the performance of government schools. Garcia was pleased that the number of students from these schools who received scholarships increased from seven last year to 24 this year. Once again, girls dominated the boys in this year’s CAPE results. Garcia said 285 girls received scholarships as opposed to 115 boys.

While he was happy with the performance of the girls, Garcia said it is clear the boys have to “step up to the plate.” Girls outperforming boys at CAPE, Garcia disclosed, was not unique to TT.

“In all the Caribbean territories, the girls are outperforming the boys and it’s something that we need to look at very carefully. It is a Caribbean problem.”

On January 2, Garcia said the ministry issued a circular memoranda which dealt with the criteria used for the selection and ranking of national scholars.

Chief Education Officer Harrilal Seecharan said grades and grade profiles are used to consider students for scholarships.

“This year because of the process being much more competitive, we had to make adjustments to the grade profiles,” he said. Seecharan added this happened in mathematics, natural sciences and business. In cases where students had the same grades and grade profiles, Seecharan said T-scores had to be provided by the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) to determine the award of scholarships.

Garcia said parents could ask for a review of their children’s results if they wanted.

Noting complaints about the delay in the release of CAPE results, Garcia said, “The database from CXC was received on October 23 and T-scores were received on November 5.” In those circumstances, Garcia said it was reasonable to understand that “this played a large factor in the late issuing of results.” He promised that the ministry would be communicating with CXC to ensure that CAPE results will be released much quicker so parents and students will not find themselves in this situation again.

Garcia also said the total value of the 400 CAPE scholarships awarded was $142, 725,000. Apart from Lakshmi Girls, St Augustine Girls High School received the second highest number of scholarships, 39. They were followed by Naparima Girls High School, St Joseph’s Convent (Port of Spain) and St Joseph’s Convent (St Joseph) with 38, 31, 26, 23 and 22 scholarships respectively. Seecharan reiterated that the ministry granted the Santan Dharma Maha Sabha’s request to close all its schools for the funeral of its general secretary Sat Maharaj on Tuesday.

This story has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

LAKSHMI Girls' Hindu School dominated this year's Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) results, winning one of the two President's Medals and taking the majority of the 400 scholarships awarded.

Education Minister Anthony Garcia announced the results at a news conference at the ministry in Port of Spain on Monday.

Celine Roodal won the President's Medal as the top performing student in environmental studies, information and communication technology, mathematics and natural science.

The St Augustine school also received 40 out of the 400 scholarships, 15 open and 45 additional. Naparima Girls High School student Sharvaani Rampersad-Maharaj won the second President's Medal as the top performing student in business studies, creative and performing studies, general studies, language studies, humanities and technical studies.

Garcia said this was either the fourth or fifth year in a row that a Lakshmi Girls' student had won the President's Medal. He also noted the large number of students from the school who received scholarships.

"We congratulate the students. They continue to work very hard," Garcia said.

Garcia also said the overall performance of denominational schools was good and there was an improvement this year in the number of students from government secondary schools who received scholarships.

This year, 285 girls and 115 boys were given scholarships.

Garcia said the ministry did its best to ensure CAPE results were received on time. He said there would be follow-up discussions with the Caribbean Examinations Council about the timely receipt of CAPE results.