Sri Lanka shines yet again at the Edexcel High Achievers’ Awards

Edexcel, UK’s largest awarding body offering academic and vocational qualifications acknowledges 76 world prize winners from Sri Lanka , once again making Sri Lanka one of the top global prize winners for students who sat the Primary and Lower Secondary Achievement Tests, GCE A/Level and International GCSE in June 2013. Having provided Sri Lankan students with topranked examinations for nearly 40 years, Edexcel hosted its High Achievers’ Award Ceremony for 2013 on the 25th of November at the BMICH.

Surpassing the norm, Sri Lankan students swept the board with 18 combination awards at the GCE A/Level and International GCSE examinations in 2012 and 2013. Following on from last year, Edexcel also felicitated 46 students who sat the Primary and Lower Secondary Achievement Tests that were conducted in schools across the island. A total of 35 students won International GCSE grade prizes, and 30 GCE A/Level grade prizes. Asian International’s Tharindu Angelo Withanage and Stafford International’s Danushika Sivanathan gained 5A*s in the GCE A/Levels while the Colombo International School’s Ahmed Imadh Bahaudeen gained the best results with 12 Grade A*s at the June 2013 International GCSE examinations. The highest average on Primary Achievement Tests went to Dulanya Sasindi Cooray of Asian International School and the Lower Secondary Achievement to Ishira Upeshala Fernando of Gateway College. Shamira Ghouse of Elizabeth Moir School won the best GCE A/L results based on the highest average

In a congratulatory message, British High Commissioner H. E John Rankin stated, “Once again Sri Lanka has excelled at the Edexcel International GCSEs and A levels and I am very pleased yet again to see how well Sri Lankan students do at UK qualifications. As the British High Commissioner I also greatly value the continuing strong educational relationship between the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka.”

Commenting on the results, Keith Davies, Country Director, British Council, Colombo and the guest of honour at the awards ceremony added: ‘‘The British Council Sri Lanka is delighted to continue our strong association with Edexcel to ensure the secure administration of examinations. We will continue to support schools, teachers and candidates in preparing for the examinations, so that Edexcel qualifications continue to open doors for the young people for Sri Lanka. We have delivered around 350,000 exams and helped 150,000 students enhance their personal, academic and career aspirations over the last 50 years of partnership in Sri Lanka. I congratulate all those who are receiving their awards on their very fine achievements.’’

Thirty three World Prizes were awarded for the June 2013 GCE A/L, including an incredible 21 students who were placed 1st in the world in Accounting from 14 schools across the island. The International GCSE awarded 37 prizes in subjects including Accounting, Art & Design, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Commerce, Economics, English Language, English Literature, French, Further Mathematics, Human Biology, Physics, Religious Studies, Science, Mathematics, ICT, Psychology, History, Geography and the languages German, Sinhala & Tamil while Primary students achieved the highest marks in the world for English, Mathematics and Science. Further, the Community Awards Scheme introduced by Edexcel to encourage the school going youth to be more aware about helping the community they live in saw a large number of schools participating . Bishop’s College bagged the Gold award, Gateway College won the silver award and Elizabeth Moir School was recognisd for the Bronze award. St. Joseph’s College followed in 4th Place and Royal International School, Kurunegala was placed 5th

Edexcel’s Assistant Vice President for the Indian Subcontinent Premila Paulraj congratulating all award winners stating : ‘ The Edexcel awards ceremony is now a key event in our annual agenda, where we look forward to recognising 175 high achievers who have performed well at Edexcel examinations along with the efforts of the parents, teachers and principals. We can also very proudly say that the most number of top achievers in the subcontinent are from Sri Lanka. It is no doubt that Edexcel’s investment in teacher training is a contributing factor towards these achievements.

Congratulating the high achievers, Managing Director of Pearson Qualifications International Manos Kapterian and the chief guest at the awards ceremony added: ‘‘Our qualifications offer routes to progression the world over. Less than 8 months ago we launched our new suite of International Advanced Level qualifications and today we have over 50,000 international students who will take their exams in January. With nearly 200 top universities formally confirming their acceptance of our qualifications and many more indicating they will do so, you can be assured of gaining entry, with the right marks, to your university of choice. My advice to all our students is to be confident in your abilities, be prepared to take risks and never go home regretting something you did, or worse, you didn’t do. Make the most of every opportunity – it may never come again.. ”

Recognised by leading universities around the world, the Edexcel qualifications provide a foundation to students to develop their skills and personalities, gearing them to be the leaders of tomorrow ready to meet the changing needs of the industry and commerce in the world. Edexcel, continues to maintain its focus on creating all rounded students, providing students with a foundation to pursue their specialization of choice in the future while supporting extracurricular activities.