By Prior Beharry
A BOY who reviewed his Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination marks and has now placed first among the 19,000 students who sat the exam in 2020 is not scheduled to get a medal from President Paula-Mae Weekes on Monday.
In October 2020, Ameerah Beekhoo, of the Trinidad Muslim League (TML) in San Fernando, was announced as the top SEA student.
But, a male student of Maria Regina Grade School (MRGS) had his marks reviewed since his parents felt that he was a top-class student and his SEA essay mark wasn’t as he was getting in practice tests, three sources close to the matter told AZP News.
After the review, his essay mark was increased to 20, the maximum, and this placed him as the student with the highest marks in SEA for 2020, sources said.
The boy and his school were informed that he will receive the President’s Gold Medal and Beekhoo was told that she would get the silver medal based on SEA 2020 results.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, President Paula-Mae Weekes adjourned many of her functions to prevent large gatherings. Even, the 2020 and 2021 National Awards were held in March this year.
A release from President’s House to the media has requested coverage for the President’s Medal Presentation Ceremony 2020 on Monday when academic excellence of secondary and primary school students will be recognised.
But, Beekhoo’s parents threatened injunctive proceedings to stop the awards ceremony based on her “recent demotion.”
The letter sent on Monday to the ministry by attorney Jared Jagroo, of Freedom Chambers, stated that on October 8, 2020, Beekhoo was honoured at a ceremony by the ministry.
The letter stated, “The ministry having publicly announced that Ameerah placed first in the SEA examination with an official awards ceremony which was covered by the media cannot now, two years later, simply invite her to another awards ceremony hosted by the Head of State, Her Excellency the President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and casually indicate that she is to receive a price for placing second.”
The ministry then rescinded the letter to Beekhoo and to the former MRGS student. It meant that only Beekhoo is set to receive the gold medal on Monday.
In making the announcement in 2020, Minister of Education Nyan Gadbsy-Dolly said 19,201 students wrote the SEA that year which was the “highest number of students writing, over the last 11 years.”
The Ministry of Education in a release on Thursday stated that the SEA awards were based on preliminary results only.
It stated, “The practice of announcing the placement of students who wrote the SEA in any given year has customarily been based on the preliminary SEA results. Therefore, awards are given on this basis.
“It is, however, the right of any parent to query their child’s results, which is facilitated by the Caribbean Examination’s Council (CXC), the administering body for the SEA. These reviewed results are typically received two months after the preliminary results. This query may or may not alter the marks of students, but does not alter the preliminary placement list, upon which awards are made.
“This policy has been followed for many years.”
It stated that it was “extremely unfortunate” that a senior ministry official exceeded the authority of their remit by varying the SEA placement list without approval by the executive.
The release stated, “Further to this variation, the official proceeded to inform the parents and schools of their eligibility for awards, according to the unapproved listing, which resulted in consternation.
“The official was therefore instructed to revert to the policy position, and to inform the parents and schools accordingly, which was done.
“As a result of this unilateral action, the achievement of the student who was rightfully announced as first placed, based on the preliminary SEA results of 2020, has been brought into question.
“This is highly regrettable.”
The release also quoted Gadbsy-Dolly. She said, “This is a most unfortunate situation, and though I am very sorry about the distress caused to both children, a precedent cannot be set by the use of reviewed results for this award, as there are other children who would have reviewed their results and have had to abide by the existing policy.
“The practice of announcing the ‘Top 200’ awards was halted since 2020, and has been replaced with a mechanism whereby the group of children recognised based on preliminary SEA results is more representative of our inclusive society; where effort is applauded as well as high achievement.
“In 2020, the two students who were top placed based on preliminary results were recognised by the MOE, as is the custom, and those are the two who will be awarded.
“Going forward, this system of public identification and award of the top ranked SEA students will be reviewed.
“It is my personal view that it has outlived its usefulness, and is now an additional stressor in an already high-stress environment.
“My deepest apologies go out to both students, who performed excellently and should not have been subjected to this experience.”
The mother of the student of MRGS told AZP News that it was a difficult time for them right now and that they were exploring their legal options.
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