President Faure rewards students for excellence in 2017 exams |03 August 2018
Students who performed well in local and international exams in 2017 were yesterday presented with a token of appreciation by President Danny Faure, in recognition for their efforts.
The 50 students from primary to post secondary institutions in the public and private schools, received their tokens from President Faure in a ceremony held yesterday afternoon at State House.
They excelled in national and international exams at primary six, S5, Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET), DELF, Cambridge-IGCSE and Cambridge A-Level.
Four students who did very well in their international exams and who are ranked among the top in the world, received special prizes.
It was the first such event to be organised by State House to reward the students.
Anna Lespoir from the School of Advanced Level Studies (Sals), is ranked 1st in the world for Cambridge International A-Level Business. Michael Jean, also from Sals and Anna Yang from Independent School are ranked seventh and tenth in the world respectively also for Cambridge International A-Level Business. Abisheak Sathiyamoorthy from Belonie secondary school is ranked 8th in the world for Cambridge IGCSE Geography and rank 9th in the world for Cambridge IGCSE Biology.
Present at the presentation ceremony were the Minister for Education and Human Resource Development (MEHRD), Jeanne Simeon; the principal secretary for Tertiary Education and Human Resource, Dr Linda Barallon; the director of Independent School, Sherley Marie; the vice-principal of International School, Terrence François; the director of Alliance Française, Laurent Jalicous; other officials from MEHRD and from the public and private schools.
In her opening remarks, Minister Simeon thanked President Faure for hosting the ceremony to reward the students who have made their schools and parents proud.
Minister Simeon said she was convinced that the event will inspire the students to do even better in their future studies and will motivate other students to study, study and study and be the best they can possibly can in their studies.
Congratulating the students on their achievements and the teachers for their teaching devotion, Minister Simeon said MEHRD will continue to implement strategies for access to good quality education.
In line with its strategic plan, the ministry has as targets to strengthen teaching and learning in the early years, giving the young children a strong start which is the formula for good and sustainable results.
Minister Simeon noted that this can only be achieved with the determination of both students and teachers and with the help of parents and the community.
Urging them to continue to work hard, Minister Simeon said, “Take every opportunity to keep on learning and to surround yourself with positive people and positive things. Be a model, a mentor to your peers and siblings at your school, in your homes and in your community.”
All the students said they were very happy for getting the award but they were caught by surprise as they were not expecting that a second awards ceremony was to take place.
Anna Lespoir, who is teaching French at the Pointe Larue school while waiting for her scholarship, said: “I was not expecting it and I feel very happy about it.”
Lespoir advised the young students to study hard and not to neglect their studies.
Abisheak Sathiyamoorthy, a first-year student at Sals, said: “I feel very happy. It’s a reward for my hard work. I would like to thank my teachers and parents.”
Sathiyamoorthy’s advice to other students is: “It’s very important to listen to teacher’s advice. Believe in yourself and never give up.”
After the ceremony the students interacted with President Faure and other guests during a small reception.
To note, the same group of students had recently received prizes for their achievements by MEHRD in a ceremony held last month at the National Institute for Teacher Education (NIE).
(Editor’s note: As we couldn’t get a group photograph of everyone with President Faure and the students preferred to take individual group photos, we can publish only a selected few for our readers on account of space constraints).
