Liam Ra­jku­mar of Freeport Pres­by­ter­ian re­ceived the top award of most out­stand­ing pupil when the Pres­by­ter­ian Pri­ma­ry Schools Board of Ed­u­ca­tion held their 2024 Awards Func­tion on Sat­ur­day at the Susamachar Pres­by­ter­ian Church in San Fer­nan­do.

Awards were giv­en to the top five stu­dents from each ed­u­ca­tion­al dis­trict and the top 20 stu­dents na­tion­al­ly, with spe­cial awards for stu­dents who ex­celled un­der ex­cep­tion­al cir­cum­stances, and the top three per­form­ing schools.

Ra­jku­mar, the top-per­form­ing stu­dent na­tion­al­ly among all Pres­by­ter­ian school stu­dents, re­ceived a tro­phy and $4,000 for his out­stand­ing per­for­mance.

Brid­get Lack­raj from Tacarigua Pres­by­ter­ian School placed sec­ond and re­ceived a tro­phy and $2,500, while Siara Bis­nath from Ex­change Pres­by­ter­ian School, placed third and re­ceived a tro­phy and $1,500.

Sev­er­al oth­er stu­dents were cel­e­brat­ed for their achieve­ments in the Sec­ondary En­trance As­sess­ment (SEA) ex­am, in­clud­ing Nasya Paul from Canaan Pres­by­ter­ian, Nia May from Curepe Pres­by­ter­ian, Brid­gette Gopaul from Pic­ton Pres­by­ter­ian and Ethan Ali from Ex­change Pres­by­ter­ian.

Ex­change Pres­by­ter­ian School had mul­ti­ple stu­dents in the top 20, in­clud­ing Kaden Sukram and Caleb Wal­ton.

In ad­di­tion to in­di­vid­ual achieve­ments, the top-per­form­ing schools were rec­og­nized. Ex­change Pres­by­ter­ian School took the top spot, fol­lowed by Canaan Pres­by­ter­ian and Cu­mu­to Pres­by­ter­ian. All three schools were award­ed tro­phies for their ex­cel­lence.

The awards al­so rec­og­nized stu­dents who faced ex­cep­tion­al chal­lenges. Among those re­ceiv­ing spe­cial awards were Samaya Mo­hammed, Cherlis­sa Dick from Fe­lic­i­ty Pres­by­ter­ian School, Sha­nia Steven from Vista­bel­la Pres­by­ter­ian, Joan­na Braith­waite from Tacarigua Pres­by­ter­ian, An­dria Springer, Adam Williams from Freeport Pres­by­ter­ian, and Zariya Mo­hammed from Wa­ter­loo Pres­by­ter­ian.

Dex­ter Ram­per­sad, School Su­per­vi­sor I, praised the stu­dents for their hard work and ded­i­ca­tion. Chair­man of the Pres­by­ter­ian Pri­ma­ry Schools Board, Vick­ram Ram­lal, urged all 72 Pres­by­ter­ian pri­ma­ry schools and their stu­dents to con­tin­ue striv­ing for ex­cel­lence.

At­tend­ing the func­tion were Wil­son Hen­der­son, Deputy Per­ma­nent Sec­re­tary of the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion, Aaron Ram­rat­tan, Di­rec­tor of School Su­per­vi­sion and Man­age­ment and Rt Rev Daniel Chance, Mod­er­a­tor of the Pres­by­ter­ian Church.