Last week, we introduced you to a few of this year’s top scorers in the Primary School Examinations. These are the standard 6 students who got the highest grades out of the more than 7,000 students countrywide who sat the exams in April and May.
This morning at the Belize City Civic Center, the Ministry of Education congratulated the top 25, and the schools which are consistently producing top finishers.
The ceremony lasted about three hours with all the accolades and honors being handed out, and 7News was there. We spoke with Deputy Prime Minister Patrick Faber about the importance of recognizing these promising students. He said that he expects to see them in future award ceremonies for CSEC and CAPE:
Hon. Patrick Faber - Minister of Education
"The ceremony is to recognize the top 25 performers in the exam, but it is also now geared towards recognizing those top performing schools, and those schools that have most improved, and also those schools that have consistently been performing well. So, we recognized 40 schools in 4 categories, and the categories merely had to do with the number of test takers per school. So, if you had a large number, you’re category 1, and if you had a very small number, you’re in category 4. But, it is the same weighting that we used to judges the school. So, we recognized the top 10 schools in each of those 4 categories. And I must say that while you have some schools who don’t have a top performer, you have some schools that have very well, and have consistently done so. So, we’re proud of those schools, and of course, the idea behind this is to encourage schools to try to improve next year. That is really where the solution lies to fixing all of this. If schools take an ownership, they engage the parents, they engage the students, they engage their teachers, they engage the wider school community, which includes the Ministry of education, there can be a wonderful success coming to all our schools and our children."
Reporter
"What’s your estimation of these brilliant young minds?"
Hon. Patrick Faber
"Spectacular and you’ll forgive me again for my bias. My niece is in that top 25, at number 3, and I’ve had an opportunity, as you pointed out, Daniel, to interact with all of them at the top 25 level, but also the top 10 at each district level, who might not have been a part of the 25. And those students are very stellar. We have quality, top notch students, and we look forward to seeing them blossom. In my time as Minister of Education, 11 years now, I have seen students pass through primary school, top the PSE, get to CXC, and top the CSEC exams, get to CAPE, and top the CAPE exams. So, I’m going to look out for this crowd most definitely."
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