South students top SEA exams; gov't will keep promise of laptops

Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh congratulates Ashaish on his success

Two girls and one boy - all from primary schools in south Trinidad - have won the top three spots in the Secondary Entrance Examination (SEA).

The results released Thursday show that Ashaish Mohammed is the top performer among the 17,270 students who wrote the examination.

The 11-year-old was a student at the San Fernando TML school. He will be attending Naparima Boys’ College from the new school year.

Second place in the national exams went to Priyanka Kissoonsingh of St Peter’s Private Primary School, Pointe-a-Pierre. And Charisse Alexander of San Fernando Girls’ Government school placed third.

Commenting on the results, Education Minister Tim Gopeesingh said the country's education system is weak with an outdated curriculum.

He pledged that the ministry will fix the problem and modernise the resources to improve the system.

He also promised that the students entering high school in September will get the laptop computers promised during the election campaign. Gopeesingh said he is working on getting the 17,000 computers.

He said Cabinet has appointed an inter-ministerial team "to ensure that every student, all 17,000 students, will have their laptops before school is opened.

The team is meeting Friday to work out the details of delivering on Government’s promise of laptops for every SEA pupil. Gopeesingh the team will prepare a note for cabinet on the matter.

"We are going to put in software packages for your education and learning but we will put security measures so you will not go and do idle things on the computers and you will promise your Education Minister you will use your laptops to further your education," Gopeesingh added.