P.S.E. results: 1 + 1 = 3
For the last three years, Belizean primary school students have nervously entered their classrooms on that fateful day in May to sit the Primary School Examination. The suspense of waiting to find out just how well they did was ended today as the Ministry of Education officially released the grades. And one little girl from Belize City was very happy indeed. Janelle Chanona reports.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
This morning, thirteen-year-old Aimee Flores found out of that of the five thousand, seven hundred and four students who sat the Primary School Examination this year, she had scored the highest, receiving two hundred and eighty five of the possible three hundred points.
Aimee Flores, Highest Score, P.S.E.
“I didn’t really expect to come in first, I wasn’t really expecting it.”
Janelle Chanona
“How did you feel when you found out?”
Aimee Flores
“I got kind of emotional and all excited. When they first told me it wasn’t really confirmed, but when it was confirmed today I was happy and called my mom and dad and everyone.”
Molly Hulett, Principal Holy Redeemer School
“We are honoured, Aimee has been a brilliant child from since she started, she has shown that in all her achievements from infants, a very bright child and has a lot of family support. I think that is what we have to look at, parent’s involvement in their children’s education.”
The students are tested in English, Math and Science. This year, the performance in math hit rock bottom with more than forty percent getting a Grade E, the lowest possible score. Flores was one of few students that did well in the subject.
Aimee Flores
“I really love Math, once I knew all the formulas, how do the problem solving…I had to read over the problems a couple times to understand it and after that it was just to do the calculations and it wasn’t that hard.”
Janelle Chanona
“Did anything give you trouble?”
Aimee Flores
“Well, in the math the only thing was the time, because each question had at least four parts, so I didn’t have time to check it over and make sure everything was correct. But other than that, most of it was just comprehension, just being able to understand the questions.”
Molly Hulett
“I think many children really don’t like the subject math and one of the major problems is that instead of asking how to work out a problem, children prefer just copying the answer. I think that’s the main area that we have to look at in next year’s exam.”
Janelle Chanona
“So are you all as a school going to be steeping up in your preparations for math?”
Molly Hulett
“Sure, we’ll be looking at math from infants, especially the problem solving area that we have noticed is the problem. From Infants throughout, we’re going to have the math teachers work together and see how best we can benefit from doing that.”
Reporting for News 5, I am Janelle Chanona.
While the statistics show that Belizean students are struggling with numbers, within the last three years there has been consistent improvement in science. This year, Mychal Balderamos from Our Lady of Guadalupe RC School in Belmopan impressively answered every question correctly in the science section of the P.S.E.
