But St. Margaret’s Primary still took top honours securing the first place in the country and eight of the top twelve positions.

The results were released yesterday by the Ministry of Education, and students from schools such as Leonora Primary and Patentia Primary in Region 3, C.V Nunes Primary in Region 2 and Rose Hall Primary in Region 6, were among 26 students from schools in outlying areas who made the top 100 candidates in the national exams, written by around 14,900 children.

A student of St Margaret’s Primary School, Catherina Gonsalves obtained the highest score securing 557 marks out of a maximum 564, while Keren Dolphin of Leonora Primary - 556 - and Yana Edwards of Concord Nursery and Primary - 552 - secured the second and third places, respectively.

Speaking with Stabroek News yesterday, Minister of Education, Dr Henry Jeffrey said he was particularly pleased by the results of schools outside Georgetown, which he said bodes well for his administration’s vision of quality education throughout the country. And pointing out that the overall performance surpassed that of the previous year the Minister expressed the hope that such performances would be replicated at the secondary level. This is despite what he termed the “unfortunate” performances from schools in hinterland areas, which failed to penetrate the top 100.

He noted that students in these areas suffered all kinds of problems, which he said are rooted in their overall living conditions. And observing that these problems were more significant than that of adequate teacher staffing, he said it was still the prerogative of the Ministry to place trained teachers in these outlying areas, to improve the quality of education being offered.