Guyana bests Trinidad and Tobago at CXC's major awards

GUYANESE students have copped the lion’s share of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) awards for science, business and humanities. TT won for creative and expressive arts, as well as individual subjects. In total, four TT nationals will be honoured.

On Thursday, CXC will recognise 15 students for their performance in the May/June Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence (CCSLC) examinations.

The winner of the 2021/2022 Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA) story-writing competition will also be recognised.

Uotam Heeralall of Anna Regina Secondary School, Guyana emerged as the winner of the CXC regional award for most outstanding performance overall in CSEC examinations for 2022. Heeralall achieved Grade I in 25 subjects.

Heeralall’s performance in eight of them also earned him the award for the technical/vocational category of subjects.

Saskia Twahir of Queen’s College, Guyana achieved Grade I in 21 subjects and Grade II in one subject – visual arts. She won the award for business, as well as humanities. Sheridan Dyal, also of Queen’s College completed the list of most outstanding candidates from Guyana, securing the award in sciences.

Dyal achieved Grade I in 18 subjects.

In creative and expressive arts, Kurtijah Ross of Naparima Girls’ High School, won the award for most outstanding performance. Ross achieved Grade I in ten subjects and Grade II in music.

Students from TT also earned awards in individual subjects.

Sophia Hamel-Smith of Holy Name Convent, Port of Spain, and Jayda Mohammed of Rio Claro West Secondary School won the awards in visual arts 2D and visual arts 3D, respectively.

Mark Mahadeo earned the awards for principles of accounts, sponsored by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Caribbean.

Students from Jamaica rounded out the list of top performers with awards in individual subjects.

Jonell Henry of Campion College in Jamaica won the University of Guyana’s Menezes-Rodney Award for Caribbean history. Nia-Ashley Harris of the St Andrew High School for Girls won the Prof Wilma Bailey Award for geography.

Antonia Binns of St Hilda’s High School won the award for most outstanding short story and Jemoy Jarrett of Herbert Morrison Technical High School won the new Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency (CCREEE)-sponsored award for industrial technology.

The most outstanding performance by a male student in the CCSLC examinations was won by Ethan Harrigan of Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School, Anguilla.

Joshornnia Edwards of Verchilds High School, St Kitts and Nevis won the award for the most outstanding female student. They both achieved grades of Master in all their subjects.

Thursday’s ceremony will also feature the winner of the 2021/2022 CPEA story writing competition – Jessica Pyke of Brades Primary School, Montserrat for her entry entitled “The House Fire.”

The outstanding students will receive their awards during a virtual regional top awards ceremony, hosted by the Turks and Caicos Islands.

This year’s top schools are both from Guyana.

Anna Regina Secondary School will receive the award for the CSEC School of the Year 2022 and Saraswati Vidya Niketan School will receive the CAPE School of the Year 2022 award.