Amrik receives President’s Medal

Newsday’s sources made the revelation yesterday, in anticipation of the release of the list of scholarships by the Ministry of Education. The list is expected to be released today, but ministry officials said they did not know when it would be released.

The ministry usually awards two President’s Medals, one for Math and Sciences, and another for "other subject areas." Kochhar, a former student of Hillview College in Tunapuna, was ranked first in Math, Further Math and fourth in Physics based on this year’s A’Level results. Kochhar, the son of Prof Gurmohan Kochhar, Deputy Principal at the St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), received a perfect 100 percent in Mathematics, 96.9 in Further Mathematics, 95.1 in Physics and 42.1 out of 50 in General Paper. He represented Trinidad and Tobago at the Mathematics Olympiad in Mexico last year. Kochhar is currently studying at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Five other students were ranked number one in other subjects. Among them were Brenston Francois of St George’s College, Barataria, in History; Tristan Ramcharan of Presentation College, Chaguanas, in Chemistry; Sunita Ramjattan of Iere High School, Siparia, in Sociology; Nikita Sahadeo of St Joseph’s Convent, St Joseph, in Geography; and Vishaal Tribany of Presentation College, San Fernando, in General Paper. A total of 43 students were ranked among the top ten in the world based on the A’ Level results.

Last year the ministry awarded 200 scholarships. Twenty-one were open scholarships in the areas of Business, Language, Modern Studies, Mathematics, Science, Environmental and Drama.

Forty-two were additional scholarships and 137 further additional scholarships

The President’s Medals were last year awarded to Dennis Ramdass of Naparima College in Mathematics/Science and Marissa Leung of Providence Girls’ Catholic School in the "other subject areas grouping."