Ramai Trace students confident

ALTHOUGH they were forced to prepare for the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) in a cramped, inadequate space and were involved in many protests for their school building to be completed, students of the Ramai Trace Hindu School were elated after the exam yesterday.

Newsday visited the Hanuman Milan Hindu Temple in Penal where the school has been housed for the past two years as officials wait for the Ministry of Education to complete construction on their school building in Ramai Trace, Debe. Gaitree Beharry, a member of the School Support Group said there were no issues as the students took the exam yesterday.

“Their teachers would have worked very hard to prepare them for this exam, in terms of the teaching they have as much as a chance as any other student from any school,” Beharry said. But she said the students were disadvantaged. “The long journey to get to school with so much traffic every day and the stress of trying to get the construction started has definitely put the children at a disadvantage though.”

Her daughter, Arianna, 11, said the exam was easy and she believes she was well prepared. She was confident that she would pass for her first choice school, Naparima Girls’ College. Another student, Vinayak Maharaj said the exam was stress free and he was looking forward to relaxing after all the studying and preparation he did for the exam.

Best friends Suri Babwah and Leana Sookdeo said they both encountered difficult questions in the exam. But the two seemed unfazed as they strolled out of the exam room and into the arms of their waiting parents. They said they planned to spend the rest of their day at C3 mall in San Fernando and relax until results are released.