Arima Senior Comp among 236 scholarship winners

Harrinarine, who is now pursuing medical studies at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Mt Hope, was among the 236 scholarship winners announced late on Monday evening by the Ministry of Education.

Harrinarine attended the troubled Arima Senior Comprehensive for two years, at a time when there was much negative publicity at the school. There were maliciously set fires in one of the school’s bathrooms and there were several calls for the removal of then principal Cheryl-Ann Wilkinson. However, Harrinarine told Newsday yesterday, "I think lots of the things (published) were highly overrated and it was not as bad as it was made out to be." She described the teachers as "very dedicated who motivated students to do their best in spite of the things being said about the school." Harrinarine, who previously attended Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu College, got "As" in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics and a "B" in General Paper. She said other students in the A’ Level class did equally well. She said they all applied themselves to their school work, and advised other students that they can also achieve success in spite of challenges which they may encounter.

This year four students were awarded President’s Medal based on the results in the Cambridge GCE A’ Levels and CAPE examinations.

As reported by Newsday last week, based on the GCE exams, Amrik Singh Kochhar of Hillview College, Tunapuna, won the President’s Medal for Mathematics/Science/Environment, while Robert Martinez of St Mary’s College, Port-of-Spain, won the medal for other subject areas.

Based on the CAPE exams, the President’s Medal for Mathematics/Science/Environment was awarded to Krishni Bahall, and for other subject areas, Tynneille Tuitt received the medal. They both attended the Holy Faith Convent, Couva.

The ministry awarded 21 open, 36 additional and 133 further additional scholarships to students based on the GCE exams. Ten other scholarships were awarded to students based on the world rank order.

Students of St Joseph’s Convent, Port-of-Spain, received the majority of scholarships — 27. Ten comprehensive schools also received scholarships. Based on the students’ performance in the CAPE exams, the ministry awarded 15 scholarships to Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu College, St Augustine; 17 to Holy Faith Convent, Couva, and two to Holy Faith Convent, Penal. Five students, two each from Lakshmi and Holy Faith Convent, Couva, and one from Holy Faith Convent, Penal, received open scholarships in the areas of Business, Language, Modern Studies, Science and Environmental studies. The other 31 students got additional scholarships.