A total of 880 local candidates participated in the 2019 sitting of the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and topping the list of performers was Ms Shanomae Milling of St Rose’s High School who wrote 11 units and achieved nine grade ones and two grade twos.
Milling was announced as the top performer this morning by the Ministry of Education who revealed that another student was mistakenly named the top performer yesterday when results were publicly shared.
“The Ministry of Education congratulates Ms Milling on her outstanding achievement. We do apologise for the anomaly regarding the top position. However, this should not distract from the excellent and historical performance by our students this year at both the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and CAPE assessments,” the ministry said in a release.
Milling earned grade ones in Applied Mathematics Unit 1; Caribbean Studies Unit 1; Environmental Science Unit 1; Physics Unit 1; Biology Unit 2; Chemistry Unit 2; Pure Mathematics Unit 2; Physics Unit 2; and Physical Education and Sports Unit 2. Her two grade twos were earned in Communication Studies Unit 1 and Applied Mathematics Unit 2 – Grade 2.
CAPE ELITES
Meanwhile, Queen’s College’s (QC), Michael Bhopaul, who is no stranger to the top-performing spotlight, is the country’s second-best performer. Bhopaul first made his name when he was deemed the top performer at the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) back in 2012 and later the region’s top performer for the Caribbean Examination Council’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination in 2017 with 24 grade one passes. He copped four out of the seven awards Guyana received that same year.
At CAPE this year, Bhopaul secured grade one passes in eight subjects, namely Communication Studies Unit 1, Integrated Mathematics Unit 1, Applied Mathematics 2, Biology 2, Chemistry 2, French 2, Pure Mathematics 2 and Physics 2.
But Bhopaul was not the only QC student to perform outstandingly this year. In the top performers’ row too is Leonardo Gobin who also wrote eight subjects and secured all grade one passes. His passes were in Communication Studies Unit 1, Integrated Mathematics Unit 1, Applied Mathematics 2, Biology 2, Chemistry 2, Environmental Science 2, Pure Mathematics 2 and Physics 2.
Other QC top performers are: Deigo Barnett with seven grade one passes and two threes; Zane Ramotar with seven grade one passes; Jelene Arjune with seven passes; Jeevan Dalip with six grade ones and one grade three passes; Fidel Da Silva with six grade ones and three grade three passes; Amisha Mohanlall with six grade one passes; Pretha Smith with six grade one passes, and Jamal Thomas with six grade ones and two grade three passes.
Other outstanding performers are: Farah Chin of Marian Academy with seven grade one passes; Narindra Persaud of Saraswati Vidya Niketan (SVN) with seven grade ones and one grade three passes; Christian Pile of St Rose’s High with six grade ones and one grade three passes; and Nial Beaton and Johanna Clarke, both of St Stanislaus’ College, with six grade one passes and six grade ones and one grade three passes, respectively.
According to information released by the Education Ministry, the overall pass rate at CAPE this year is 93%, a slight slip from last year’s 93.68% overall pass rate. However, the Ministry has noted that the results this year have shown that there was an increase in the number of candidates securing grades one to three passes.
Candidates wrote CAPE at 10 secondary schools and five private centres, namely Mackenzie High School, Christianburg Secondary (Region 10); Berbice High, New Amsterdam Secondary, Guyana Private (Region Six); President’s College (Region Four); Saraswati Vidya Niketan (Region Three); The Bishops’ High School, Queen’s College, St Joseph’s High, St. Rose’s High, St Stanislaus’ College, Marian Academy, Adult Education Association and Chase’s Academy (Georgetown).
The ministry said, “The Education sector is moving in the right direction and will continue its work to improve the quality of education delivery for the benefit of the nation’s children.”
