For CSEC students set on overseas u
It was with her eyes set on securing scholarships to study overseas that this year’s unofficial top Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) student Fatima Karim sat 20 subjects at this year’s examinations.
Karim’s ambition, which led to her securing 19 Grade Ones and a Grade Two, is part a trend which has seen students sitting an increasing number of subjects in an attempt to guarantee themselves funding for their post-secondary education.
Karim herself has admitted that her motivation was to either secure the University of West Indies Scholarship offered to Best Overall CSEC Performer, the one offered to the Best Performing Science Student or the Presidential Scholarship being offered to the Best Performing Guyanese CSEC Student.
With Karim and other students following the example of Victoria Najab, Elisa Hamilton, Zimeena Rasheed and other students across the region who compete for these scholarships, questions have been raised about whether this is the best way for students to pursue their dreams.
Many commentators, including Minister of Education Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, have expressed bewilderment at the fact that students were writing so many subjects. “I have been very puzzled by the number of subjects children are doing year after year. I don’t know what it means to be doing so many subjects,” the Minister told Stabroek News in an interview last year.
At the time he had said that one of his main plans was to limit the number of subjects students were able to write, while reintroducing several extra and cocurricular activities.
The Minister has, however, not announced any other financing options and though the Department of the Public Service has decided to offer scholarships to students pursuing several degree programmes, they are limited to the University of Guyana. Scholarships are also offered for studies in China and Cuba but many students wish to have the option to study elsewhere. It is this desire that drives students such as Karim, although several others have proved that there are alternative ways to finance their postsecondary education abroad.
Hamilton, who says she is flattered by Karim’s regard for her, is presently studying medicine at the University of the West Indies’ Mona campus.
Her studies, she notes, are funded by both the UWI Scholarship and the Government of Guyana in what is a “complex situation.”
Her annual expenses, including tuition, presently exceed US$30,000.
One person who understands her situation is Aaron Haralsingh. In 2008, Haralsingh copped the CSEC award for best performance in Science after securing 11 Grade Ones and a Grade Three.
He says that after completing CSEC, he had no hopes of studying outside of Guyana and had already enrolled at the University of Guyana.
“I paid tuition for UG but, as the Gods would have it, UG never opened in September of 2008. They needed to remove all the leaded paint from Campus, so operations were temporarily shut down. I received a call sometime in October—apparently I was the top performer for sciences in the Caribbean. And that meant a scholarship to UWI, which meant getting into UWI, which meant I had to do Sixth Form if that was what I wanted. I never wanted it before but suddenly I did. I made a decision in November that I would start Sixth Form,” Haralsingh recalls, while noting that though he was already two months behind on Unit 1, he knew he would have to make it happen.
Though he started Sixth Form with the intention of pursuing Engineering at UWI, his first year’s results opened his eyes to his abilities in Biology and led him to change his focus to medicine.
He considers himself one of the lucky ones as his scholarship has offered him an opportunity he would not have otherwise had.
“Most people in Guyana simply can’t afford [tertiary education]. In my opinion, if the government offered scholarships and financing options to students for their tertiary education, it eases the economic burden of attaining an undergraduate degree. What this does, other than allowing for that person and his/her family to save money, is provide hope; it keeps your dreams alive,” he says.