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The results for the 2012 P.S.E are in, and the grades have improved - 2012 has seen an across-the-board increase in performance compared to 2011.

Now, there's still nothing to cheer about - the average grades are still depressingly bad - but the overall performance has increased. In English the average was 58.6%, up from 54.9 , yet still 45% of the students failed. In Math, the average was 54.5. up from 47.16 in 2011, but again, 45% of students also failed. Science was much better with the average being 74.4 - up from 64.38. Half of the students scored above 76% with 83% of the students earning a grade B.

Social Studies was also on the up and up. This year, the overall score was a 5% better than last year. The average was 68.9, and 73% of the students passed.

6983 candidates sat the examinations this year, and 20 students came out on top. Tied for first, are RHIKI ALEGRIA from Hummingbird Elementary School and JASMINE BETANCOURT from Bernice Yorke Institute of Learning with 389 points. Coming in next at 2nd place is EJIKE UDUMII from Solid Rock Christian School in Stann Creek with 387 points. 3rd with 385 points is ERIC HUNTER from Bernice Yorke Institute of Learning. Darren Alvarez, also from Bernice Yorke Institute of Learning comes in 4th with 384 points. 4 Students are tied for 5th at 383 points: SERENA ANDERSON from Louisiana Government School, AMANDA MOREY from Grace Primary School, JOSHUA POTT from Hummingbird Elementary School and finally, MAMIE WILLIS from St. Andrews Anglican School. Taking 6th place is TANAIRI ARANA from San Pedro RC School with 382 points. There is a three way tie at 381 points for 7th place: HAOXIAN KANG, another student from Bernice Yorke Institute of Learning, KYLE KELLY from St. Ignatius RC School, and ORVILLE MOHE from Hummingbird Elementary. 8th place is Madison Pound from Belize Christian Academy. Tied for 9th place with 379 points are Alyssa Hernandez from Holy Redeemer RC School and AMIT NANDWANI from Belize Elementary School. Finally, 10th place is shared between Lucas Cal from Holy Redeemer RC School, DWIGHT SANTANA, also from Holy Redeemer, CLEMENTINA OJO from St. Peter Claver RC School and WENBIN ZHAO from Sacred Heart RC School with 378 points. We will have interviews with the winners from the Belize District tomorrow.

Channel 7


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2012's Top P.S.E. student revealed

Rhiki Alegria

This afternoon, the 2012 Primary School Examination (P.S.E.) results were released. A total of six thousand nine hundred and eighty-three standard six students sat the P.S.E. this year. This number represents a two point four percent increase over the number of test candidates registered in 2011. The P.S.E. assesses achievement of curriculum content and skills in area of Mathematics, English, Social Studies and Science. And each year, recognition is given to the top students. According to the statistics coming from the Ministry of Education, students did the best in Science and Social Studies while Math and English were poor. In 2010, Siian Rancharan of Hummingbird Elementary School got top marks. The bragging rights were then captured by Holy Redeemer R.C. School in Belize City in 2011 when Aliyah Marin studied her way to the top. But Hummingbird has taken back the honor with twelve year old Rhiki Alegria. News Five spoke with Alegria this afternoon where he says he knew he was going to do well, but didn't expect to top exams.

Rhiki Alegria, Top P.S.E. Student

"I feel very relieved because I have been waiting for the results. I thought I did pretty well but I dint think that I would have made it this far and top the P.S.E. this year."

Duane Moody

"Was any part of the exams challenging for you?"

Rhiki Alegria

"The only thing that I was shaky on was the English Narrative and Letter Writing because those are kinda challenging to me."

Duane Moody

"What work did you put into it to get to this point?"

Rhiki Alegria

"I worked very hard from my standard four class up to now and I've been trying very hard, studying every weekend and really working hard."

Duane Moody

"How do you think your classmates would feel about you bringing it home to Hummingbird?"

Rhiki Alegria

"I feel very good and I've heard that a lot of them have made it in the top twenty. They really outdid themselves. They really tried hard and really worked. My teacher, Miss Chavarria and my evening school teacher, Miss Wade; they really help me a lot."

Duane Moody

"What do you think was the key to actually being the top student and the others being part of the top twenty?"

Rhiki Alegria

"Studying. Studying definitely and working hard during class."

Taking second and third place were Jasmine Betancourt of Bernice Yorke Institute of Learning in Belize City and Ejike Udumii of Solid Rock Christian School in Stann Creek, respectively. We'll have a comprehensive breakdown of the statistics on Tuesday's newscast.

Channel 5


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PSE's (Almost) Perfect "Pikni"Last night we told you about this year's PSE scores.

Well, today we spoke to some of the top ten scorers who told us how they felt about the results and how they prepared for the exam. It is important to note that Bernice Yorke Institute captured a share of 1st, 3rd and 4th, and a share of the 7th place spots. This is no mean feat, and Sherry Ali, the principal of the school, said she was pleasantly surprised.

Sherry Ali, Principal - Bernice Yorke
"I expected them to do well and I expected students to be in the top ten, I didn't expect so many."

Jasmine Betancourt, 1st PSE - Bernice Yorke
"It felt great. It felt like my hard work and my studying really paid off."

Robin Schaffer
"Were you surprised at all?"

Jasmine Betancourt
"Yes at bit because I expected to do well but I didn't expected to do so well in the exam. I took evening, Saturdays and Easter classes at school and I also work along with my classmates and we help each other out. I also studied at home and got a lot of support from everyone."

Rhiki Alegria, 1st PSE - Hummingbird Elementary
"I found it kind of challenging, I put my mind to it and studied and I did well."

Robin Schaffer
"Were you all excited when you found out that you've place first?"

Rhiki Alegria
"Yes I was very excited and very happy and relieve. I expected to do really well but I didn't expect to come in first. It was a surprise."

Eric Hunter, 3rd PSE - Bernice Yorke
"I took the extra Easter classes and the Saturday classes also and I got help from my family at home and with other stuff my teacher and my classmates would help me."

Darren Alvarez, 4th PSE - Bernice Yorke
"My mom called me and told that I came in 4th, I didn't believe it. It felt really great."

Joshua Pott, 5th PSE - Hummingbird Elementary
"I was really excited when they told me that I came in 5th. I almost didn't believe it for myself but then when I look onto it I saw my grade. I am happy to know that all my work has paid off. You had to do your own individual studying. You couldn't rely on the teacher to do everything for you. The main thing was just to study and pay attention in class."

Haoxian Kang, 7th PSE - Bernice Yorke
"It felt great and my parents were very pleased with me."

Robin Schaffer
"Did you study hard for it?"

Haoxian Kang
"I studied daily and as soon as I had free time I study as much as possible."

Robin Schaffer
"Did you at all expect to do so well on the exam?"

Haoxian Kang
"No."

Orville Mohe, 7th PSE - Hummingbird Elementary
"Honestly I thought that I was in the top 20. I didn't myself to get that high on PSE and I feel extremely excited."

Alyssa Hernandez, 9th PSE - Holy Redeemer
"I didn't expect to be all the way in the top 10s and I feel really proud of myself for doing that. It feels really good. I feel like I worked very hard and that my hard work really paid off. When I went to sit the PSE I was a little nervous but after looking through it and realizing that I knew what I was doing I felt calm."

Robin Schaffer
"What was the preparation like for you?"

Dwight Santana, 10th PSE - Holy Redeemer
"A lot of extra work, evening classes, working with your teacher and listening in class. It took some time."

Robin Schaffer
"Did you expect to do so well?"

Dwight Santana
"No not really."

And as the top ten are basking in their achievements, another student also must be mentioned as coming out on top. Rowan Garel was born visually impaired, but - with accommodations for special needs students made by the Examinations Unit and facilitated by NARCIE, he was still able to sit the exam - and came out with a 93% average, that is 372 points - a mere 17 points less than the first place finisher. He told us how, with hard work, he was able to do so well, and had a message for other special needs students who want to sit the exam.

Rowan Garel, PSE participant - Hummingbird Elementary
"I just tried to tell them that things might be done in a different way for them but at the end of the day you have to do the same thing as in you still have to study and work hard and that could get you a really long way."

"I really had to study to make sure that I remember everything that Ms. Chavarria told us to remember. I would just look over my notes and stuff like what I had. I have some documents on my laptop and my speech program would like read what's on the page since I am visually impaired and I can't write my answer. They had to take me in another room because I would have to tell invigilator which answers it is and if I did that in the other room everyone would hear me."

Melanie Chavarria, Teacher - Hummingbird Elementary
"There might be a common misconception 'well Rowan got it a little easier,' no, Rowan took the exact same exam as everybody else did and his grade was all for him. He did that on his own and I think that speak volumes as to the capabilities of our visually impaired children."

"It was beautiful to see that he got through a regular environment, what you would consider a normal environment and he did so phenomenally and maybe he didn't make it in the top 20 or the top 30 but for us like Mrs. Vasquez said it's like making first place."

Due to geography, we were unable to speak to all of the top 10 PSE winners, but will try to speak to them during the award ceremony.

Channel 7


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SP Roman Catholic School has Top PSE Scores in San Pedro


Tanairi Arana places 6th countrywide in 2012 PSE - The Primary School Examination results are out and the students from San Pedro Town did an excellent job! The top scorers this year were Tanairi Aranda (95.5% - 382/400 points), Yasir Roberts (92% - 368/400 points) and Jerdon F. Anderson (91.75% - 3367/400 points), all three of San Pedro RC School. San Pedro RC School made it to the top ten in the Belize National Primary School Examination PSE . SPRCS student, Taniari Arana placed 6th overall in the country and she also scored a perfect 100% in Mathematics and Science.

Click here to read the rest of the article and see results for each school in San Pedro, as well as the top ten places in the exam


Inside The PSE Results

Earlier this week we told you the 2012 results of Primary School Examinations. The grades have improved across-the-board, but to shed some light on whether this is a trend or what the statisticians call an outlier, we spoke to the woman who designs the exam, Yvonne Davis of the Examinations Unit.

She told us that this year's record breaking PSE results are a little bit of both.

Yvonne Davis - P.S.E. Examiner
"This year, the overall performance is at the C level, and I think that this is almost a record for us because this is saying that most students earned a C overall on the exam. We have seen almost a steady flow of incremental increase in English and Math. And those seemed - to me - to be the more steady subjects. But in Social Studies and Science, over the years, we've had a few spikes. This year, we have a huge spike in Science at 74.4%. This is the highest that we have ever achieved in any of the subjects. This is the first year that we have had performance at the B level in any of the subjects, and this is shown in the Science scores this year. So I am pretty sure that the children were very well-prepared this year for the Science exam. That may have been one of the major contributors to the spike that we see this year. We would like to see that in all of the other subject areas as well. There is evidence of text writing still. I remember the supervisors coming to me to say they're still getting a number of text language influencing the writing. What we need to say to the teachers and the students as they prepare for the national exam, these incomplete spelling of words, this counts against them in terms of how their papers are marked. If everybody is now abbreviating all of these sight words, we wouldn't know for sure whether they know to spell them correctly or to use them in the proper context. This year, we have had a few of the violent themes - not as many as we have seen in some recent years - but I know that some of these scripts were brought to me indicating violent themes. We have a number of very sad stories, students talking about their loneliness. I've seen one, but there is no - nothing stands out."

Carol Babb - Deputty Chief Education Officer
"I believe that the exam scores are up because of some of the interventions that we've put in place. We've been invested a lot - and I must emphasize - a lot in teacher training. Over the past 3 years, teachers who had an associate's degree in language arts, or in something other than teacher training, we were offering them a certified education program. We're taking a different approach to the way how we teach Math and Science. If you will recall - I don't know how your teacher taught you Science or Math, but a lot of things were taught in abstract. And so, we're doing a more hands-on approach. It will take a couple years for us to see marked improvement. And of course, education is everyone's business. It's not only the Ministry of Education's business."

Both women stressed that, although the ministry is trying to increase the quality of education in the country, the parents, teachers, and management must also do their part.

Channel 7


Minister Says All PSE Takers Have a High School Place Waiting

That point was doubly underscored by education Minister Patrick Faber when we got into it with him today.

The hard truth is that while it was a good year, most of the seven thousand students who took this test have nothing to celebrate.

They performed poorly - which is mostly the fault of a system failing at every level.

We asked the Minister, why does that failing system insist on demoralizing 12, 13 and 14 year olds - by telling them that they are the ones failing? Here's what he said:

Jules Vasquez
"However, you will agree that for a 12, 13 or 14 year-old, it thoroughly demoralizing to fail this exam that your entire education sylabus is based on. Why don't we just scrap the exam, stop fulling ourselves as adults, and stop demoralizing and penalizing for an education that has failed them?"

Hon. Patrick Faber - Minister of Education
"Well because, Jules, we don't believe that this is the purpose of the exams. You're right that it is demoralizing to students, but there are some serious indicators that come out with the scores of the PSE. And that helps us to make sure that we understand what what is really happening in our education system. These test scores are serious indicators of the quality of education that is being provided in our country. We need to face that reality, and we need to do what is necessary to be done in order to improve the quality."

Jules Vasquez
"Sir, I do not want to be glib or argumentative, but how about for an initial measure, we pay all the administrators, your chief education officer, your CEO - not yourself, you have a mandate - but all of them the percentage of their salary that is national mean score, which is about 58%. If we did that I bet you that the grades would go up."

Hon. Patrick Faber
"I don't think that they are doing anything wrong, Jules. I have -"

Jules Vasquez
"But somebody be, the kids are the ones who get the message that you all are doing something wrong."

Hon. Patrick Faber
"I agree with you but the entire education system is not based on the Ministry of Education alone, and that is the big point that we've been trying to make. It's everybody's business to fix what is wrong with the education. So, you're going to do the same kind of thing who are not doing their part, and the business community who are not doing their part, and the church who are not doing their part, of the whole equation to make sure that education is fixed. Everybody needs to do their part."

We also discussed that other burning issue for standard six finishers. Seven thousand children took the PSE, so where will they go to high school? Here's what he said:

Hon. Patrick Faber - Minister of Education
"There are sufficient spaces in this country for all 7,000 of those students. The problem that we've had is to make those connections, and again, we are relying on everybody to make sure that this can be possible. Maybe it's not possible in this year, but there are enough spaces. If you look, for instance, at Stann Creek and Toledo, last year, we saw - in Toledo, let's look at Toledo - 101% transfer, and every child who was in primary school went on to high school. If you look at the mere number of high schools that exists in this country, they number at 58. And if we take on average that they take in 100, although you will find that most of these schools take in well in excess of 100 students into their 1st form, despite the fact that there are some repeaters and so on. That accounts for 5,800 possible spaces on its own. If you look at the kinds of opportunities that can exists through the ITVET's, there are only 300 full-time trainees now, and the capacity of all ITVET's can go up to 1,200 or 1,300. Then, there are another 900 spaces. There is at least 1 adult program that caters to those who have dropped out, and who can even start high school equivalencies in all districts except Orange Walk; these can offer spaces again. Then, there are programs like the Magazine Road Program where of course there are spaces. The problem we've had is that we're not making the connection, as I've said before there are - for instance - more spaces in the Belize River Valley at rural high, but people will decide, 'I don't want my kids to go there. I prefer not to apply there. I want my kids to go to a Belize City high school. But I can assure you, Jules, if there is not 100% space for all of these people who finished the PSE, there is at least 85% to 90% space availability to look at it strictly as the number of spaces available for high school students in this country."

Channel 7



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