Girls dominated this year’s Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examinations, taking the top seven overall spots, with a five-way tie for the third place.
Kirsten Ramsaran, of Rousillac Presbyterian, placed first overall, Vineetha Kattamanchi, of Maria Regina Grade School, placed second and Anya Sybella Ali (Specialist Learning Centre), Raveena Basdeo (Montrose Government), Sy’ria Joseph (Arima Girls’ Government), Aishani Ramsewak (private candidate) and Isharra Sookdeo (Clarke Rochard Government) all tied for third place.
The seven were among 17 students recognised by the Ministry of Education at its St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain headquarters yesterday.
Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, 12-year-old Kirsten Ramsaran said she achieved success through a healthy balance of studying and recreation.
“Half of it is studying, half of it taking breaks, you have to have some time for yourself,” she said.
Ramsaran said placing first was unexpected but amazing. She passed for her first choice school, Naparima Girls’ College and said she aspires to become a lawyer.
Ramsaran said she was looking forward to attending physical classes again, as she feels it will be easier to make friends in that setting.
Second place winner Vineetha Kattamanchi, who will be attending St Joseph’s Convent, said it was difficult for her to adapt to online classes.
“It was hard work considering it was online all the time and practice at home instead of at school, so to come on SEA day for the first time in a classroom and do the exam was kind of stressful,” Kattamanchi said.
Vinceetha Kattamanchi who second placed in the SEA exam.
SHIRLEY BAHADUR
She said she often encountered issues with her internet connection and she too was longing for a return to in-person classes.
Kattamanchi said she was unsure of what career path she will choose in the future.
One of the third-place winners, Raveena Basdeo, was more confident. She aspires to become a journalist and at just 12 years, she has already written a book that will be published soon. Her book is titled “A World of Creative Writing,” her mother, Beena Basdeo said.
“I enjoy public speaking,” Raveena said when asked why she aspires to join the media fraternity.
Raveena said online classes were difficult for her too, but with the assistance of a private tutor, she was able to pass for her first choice school, St Augustine Girls’ High School.
The recognition ceremony also included the top male student — Tyler Ramroop, of El Dorado Hindu School — who placed eighth overall.
Two pupils from special schools — Aisha Lewis from the Audrey Jeffers School for the Deaf and Curlan Highley, from the Cascade School for the Deaf, were also recognised.
Seven pupils were also recognised for their improved academic performance.
They were: Leanna James (Valencia Government Primary), Kahyin Young (Arouca Government Primary), Khalil David (Point Fortin AC), Tristan Craig (Rosary Boys’ RC), Shemar Bowman (Waterloo Presbyterian), Reese Charles (Robert Village Hindu) and Melicka Redhead (Marabella Government Primary).
All 17 pupils were given free broadband-at-home services from Bmobile and a tablet with a data sim card.
Speaking during the ceremony, Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly congratulated all 19,544 students who sat this year’s exam.
She said her advice to students was to reject the notion that the secondary school they pass for will decide their success.
“The SEA is but one stage, an important one yes but one of many to come. The outcome of secondary schooling has more to do with student input and parental support than the school you attended,” she said.
The minister said mean raw scores for the exam showed decreases in performances in Mathematics by six per cent, in English Language Arts by 4.1 per cent and in writing by 0.8 per cent.
“Also of note was that in SEA 2021, 1.4 per cent more students scored over 90 per cent than in 2020, while 6.7 per cent more students scored under 90 per cent and this is taking note of the fact that more students wrote in 2021 than wrote in 2020,” the minister said.
Gadsby-Dolly said while further analysis will be done on the results, the impact of switching to online learning cannot be discounted as a contributing factor to the declines in the overall performance of the candidates.
“The continued absence from the physical classroom as predicted will contribute to a reduction in average student performance as well as widening of the achievement gap and not only for SEA 2021 — this is part of the global loss phenomenon which has been spoken off widely. Learning loss is an insidious danger and our main defence against this is the opening of physical school,” she said.
Gadsby-Dolly again advocated for vaccination against COVID-19, saying vaccination presents the safest circumstance for the reopening of physical classes.