Enterprise Primary rewards its top ten

Jul 12, 2009 News

Ten students of the Enterprise Primary School were presented with monetary rewards for their outstanding performance at this year’s National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA).
The rewards were made possible through the Enterprise Support Group USA Incorporated.
Heading the list of awardees was Kushal Singh who obtained 532 marks and earned a place at St. Stanislaus College. Singh also topped the school in Social Studies and Science.
Other awardees include Deorani Persaud, Joshua Shivdyal, Camroul Hookumchand, Kenrick Dass, Antonio Rooplall, Samuel Crawford, Hardat Singh and Jaswant Persaud, who all gained places at Annandale Secondary and Davendranauth Rooplall who will be attending President’s College.
One hundred and sixty-six (166) students from the school wrote the examination and there were 116 passes.
This year’s 70% pass rate is an increase on the last year figure of 52% passes.
Headmistress Sylvia Pitt expressed satisfaction with the improvement, pointing out that this year’s top student Kushal Singh earned more marks than his counterpart for last year.
This year also saw many more children crossing the 500-mark barrier when compared to 2008.
“The teachers really worked hard. I think they were encouraged by some parents who are interested in their children’s work. The teachers are quite satisfied with that,” Pitt said.
She noted that a perusal of the school’s results revealed that students whose parents showed extra interest in their activities at school, performed excellently.
She urged the students to work harder since their journey throughout their secondary education years will require them to be much more independent with their studies.
She said that the school’s 2009 Grade Six Assessment results put paid to the belief that schools in the outlying districts do not offer much to their students.
The Enterprise Primary School is located at the back of several villages along the East Coast of Demerara.
“I say this to parents, it doesn’t matter which school your child goes to. Once a child goes with that positive outlook that ‘this is what I have to do to go to any (secondary) school I want to go’. It has a lot to do with the child’s perception, the parents’ encouragement and the teachers’ dedication and performance at the school,” the Headmistress told this newspaper.
Rasheed Baksh, local steering committee member for the Enterprise Support Group USA Inc. told Kaieteur News that the organization donated a total of $100,000 to the top students as an encouragement for the hard work they put in to realize their immediate goals.
“It’s a little push into the future, so they can develop when they move on to secondary school,” Baksh told Kaieteur News.
He said that while this is the first donation from the group there were previous donations to students who excelled in academia by individual residents who are domiciled in the United States of America.
He said that the USA support group has committed itself to providing half of its budgeting funding towards education in Enterprise.
“More than likely if there is any need for assistance in education, the board will support unanimously, because they have a strong interest in the development of the students of Enterprise,” Baksh said.
However, he noted that while the main objective of the group is to support the development of the village, students from other surrounding areas who attend the Enterprise Primary School could still benefit from their benevolence.
“We cannot identify only Enterprise students. We have students coming from neighbouring villages who are part of the top ten who will get help as well. So they have broadened the scale when it comes to education. You cannot limit a child because of where they come from, we want everybody to develop, because in general it will develop Guyana and the world as a whole,” Baksh stated.
The Enterprise Support Group USA Inc. was formed in the latter part of 2007 when a group of former Enterprise residents residing in the USA came together to establish a registered non-profit organization.
Their objective is to raise funds to assist in charitable activities towards the betterment of the fellow villagers both abroad and in Guyana.
Their main focus is on enhancing education, health and basically the social and economic life of the people of Enterprise.