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Queen’s College student, Jayden Adrian, wrote 27 subjects at this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations and copped 21 Grade One passes and 6 Grade Two passes.

He is among this year’s top performers. The results of this year’s CSEC, CAPE and CVQ examinations are being announced by the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal.

These scores are preliminary. Students have a designated period to request reviews before the official results are announced.

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The Ministry of Education on Friday announced the results of this year’s Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and students from Queen’s College and the Anna Regina Secondary School are among the top performers.

Arthur Roberts from Queen’s College copped 9 Grade One passes and 4 Grade Two passes; Yunyi Zhou from the Anna Regina Secondary School copped 7 Grade Ones and 3 Grade Two passes.

Their colleagues, Sara Khan, David Sugrim, Abigail Stephanas, and Michael Henry, are also CAPE top performers.

From Anna Regina Secondary School, Yunyi Zhou is one of this year’s CAPE top performers.

The results are being announced by the Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal.

These scores are preliminary. Students have a designated period to request reviews before the official results are announced.

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Chief Education Officer Saddam Hussain announced on Friday that there was a significant improvement in Mathematics scores at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination level. At the same time, Guyana’s overall pass rate remained relatively stable.

This year, the pass rate for Mathematics was 32%; last year, it was 27%.

“This is an increase of 5% which is significant in any aspect of education gained in a single year,” the CEO said.

English Language (A) and Literature (B) saw pass rates of 71.2% and 63.89% respectively. 

A total of 12,685 students wrote this year’s CSEC examinations. The overall pass rate stands at 66.76%. Grades One to Three scores are considered passes at the CSEC level.

Meanwhile, there was a slight decline in the overall pass rate for the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) level. Hussain said this year’s pass rate is 91.2% compared to the 92.57% last year and 93% recorded in 2023.

A total of 650 candidates wrote CAPE locally this year.

Hussain reminded the stakeholders gathered at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal, that these scores are preliminary. Students have a designated period to request reviews before the official results are announced.

Meanwhile, the CEO also announced results for the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ), which is implemented in Guyana’s secondary schools to enhance technical and vocational education and training (TVET).  With this, people can access a higher level of training in Guyana or across the Caribbean.

A total of 875 candidates qualified to be awarded a CVQ certification this year.

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President Dr. Irfaan Ali says Guyana is in the final stages of developing a comprehensive human capital strategy to tackle the country’s labour shortages, including the shortage of healthcare workers.

The President was at the time speaking on a podcast, The Rest Is Politics: Leading with Alastair Campbell, making him the first sitting President from the Americas to appear on the show. This podcast deals with British and global politics.

When asked by the host about plans to get the diaspora back in Guyana, the President said, “We are now finalising the human capital strategy which is linked to the migration strategy and the type of human capital that we need.”

President Ali explained that the strategy will also identify the skills and expertise the country needs now and in the future. Focusing specifically on the shortages in the healthcare sector, the President said his government is building the capacity to train workers to meet future demand.

“You know the world is going through a crisis; in healthcare for example, nurses are moving around globally, the UK is recruiting heavily. In the Caribbean and in Guyana, we have all suffered from that. So, we have those same challenges because we are building out a modern healthcare system that requires specialists and specialisations, certain quantity of nurses,” President Ali explained.

But while the government is currently building capacity in the health sector, there are still shortages.

“So, whilst we are building out our capacity to train nurses, pharmacists, technologists, doctors, to meet this future requirement, in the medium term we will have and we have major shortages and we have been recruiting,” the President explained.

He further noted that the human capital strategy will also reshape the education system to better produce the skills required in health and other sectors.

“We will understand what gap is there and where are the potential areas to recruit human capital to fill the gaps,” President Ali said.

Earlier this week, the Head of State expressed confidence that nurses and other healthcare professionals who left Guyana for better pay overseas will return as local opportunities improve.

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Twenty-six-year-old Jaheem Bonus was arrested on Thursday after he was allegedly found in possession of 143.6 grams of cannabis at the Itaballi checkpoint, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).

Police Headquarters, in a statement said at around 14:00 hrs, an Inspector and a Corporal stopped motor vehicle GAL 686, which was traveling from Madhia to Arimu Backdam.

The vehicle, driven by 42-year-old Reon Bonus, was carrying three other occupants.

During a routine check, police said the ranks asked the occupants to produce identification and their names were recorded. A search of the vehicle’s cabin revealed a black bag containing two transparent ziploc bags filled with leaves, seeds, and stems suspected to be cannabis.

Police said Jaheem admitted to the ownership of the bags, stating that he had collected the substance at Itaballi Landing to transport it to Arimu Backdam. The contents were weighed in his presence and amounted to 143.6 grams.

Jaheem was arrested and taken to Bartica Police Station, where a video and audio interview was conducted. Statements were also obtained from the other occupants; Reon Bonus, Hosea Isaacs, 27, and Albert Daniels, 26.

Jaheem remains in custody pending formal charges.

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Presidential Candidate of APNU, Aubrey Norton, on Friday endorsed sentiments expressed by Dexter Todd that the private sector is the reason why APNU+AFC hiked taxes during its 2015-2020 term in office and failed to deliver on many of its plans and promises.

Todd addressed an APNU meeting on Thursday night at Gilhuys Square in West Ruimveldt, Georgetown, and told the small gathering that the private sector shut down “economical activities” when the APNU+AFC assumed office in 2015.

“When you meet the people who have the economic power…I mean who have the money in this country, very little of them were ever APNU or PNC supporters. And so, when Granger took over…it was easy for them to set the stage for David Granger and APNU+AFC to fail. All they needed and all they did was to shut down the economical activities in this country, which is what they did.  So, the only thing that remained was taxes to run this country,” Todd, a lawyer and a candidate on the list for the APNU, said.

The APNU+AFC introduced some 300 taxes during their one-term in office, including on water, electricity and even data.

On Friday, Norton was asked about Todd’s justification for the coalition failing to implement several projects in its terms.

“I will endorse that. Todd is making a point…I support what Todd would have said,” Norton told the press.

He added that if the APNU wins the September 1, 2025, general and regional elections, it would engage the private sector as “mature people.”

“We will raise with them the issues we think could be raised, we will listen to their concerns, and we will work out an approach with them,” Norton noted. 

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A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), the major opposition political party, launched its manifesto for the 2025 General and Regional Elections on Friday, with ambitious promises for the party’s first 100 days in office and an even bigger goal of eliminating all forms of poverty.

Presidential Candidate Aubrey Norton said the manifesto, styled a Compact with the People, is about putting Guyanese first. He emphasised that the party wants to focus on the well-being of citizens.

Among the party’s plans are:

• Increasing the old-age pension to $100,000
• Increasing the tax-free threshold to $400,000
• Hiking the minimum wage for public servants to $200,000
• Giving each post-secondary student $50,000 monthly
• Giving electricity subsidies of up to $10,000, and water subsidies up to $5,000
• Giving a $120,000 cash grant to every child annually

In the party’s first 100 days, the manifesto states that APNU wants to make a cash transfer of $100,000 to all adults, pass a national budget focusing heavily on expanding social programmes and the productive capacity of the economy, raise the tax-free threshold and old-age pension, implement a sustainable agriculture programme in every region, and pay the students’ $50,000 stipend.

Additionally, in the first 100 days, APNU vowed to “significantly increase” the stipend given to Toshaos, and other local leaders, and double public assistance.

APNU’s 2025 General and Regional Elections (Photo: News Room/ August 15, 2025)

APNU, which was part of a coalition government with the Alliance For Change (AFC) in office from 2015 to 2020, has been sharply criticised for failing to deliver of many of the bold promises it made before entering office. On Friday, Norton doubled down on statements made by party candidate Dexter Todd, claiming that the coalition could not make good on its many of those promises because the private sector withheld support for the government from 2015 to 2020.

Additionally, Norton was questioned about the party’s plan to deal with any ensuing inflation given the planned cash transfers. He expressed much confidence that an APNU government can manage any ensuing ramifications.

“We’ve said very clearly that, particularly as it relates to local products, you have to have sustainable agriculture across the country. If you have wage increase and you do not increase production and your producivitvity, what will happen is that you will have plenty money chasing little goods.

“We saw 77% increase in wages between 2015 and 2020 and we didn’t see inflation and the high cost of living that we’re seeing now,” he explained.

Beyond these statements, the manifesto noted that APNU’s “people-centred development strategy” will allow households to enjoy a liveable income and quality social services.

And in so doing, the party declared: “We will eliminate all forms of poverty (such as food poverty) and ensure a comfortable life for all.”

APNU’s masterplan for doing so will focus on:

• Creating a new economy, favouring an investment and demand-driven model to achieve inclusive growth and shared prosperity
• Maximising the revenues the country earns from the oil sector
• Reducing financial waste, inefficiencies and corruption in government spending
• Expanding the non-oil economy
• Building infrastructure to expand the productive capacity of the economy
• Support micro and small enterprises more
• Embrace more data collection and analysis

APNU is one of six political parties contesting the upcoming elections.

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President Dr Irfaan Ali has indicated that 4,600 students have already registered for Guyana’s new digital school, which will soon be accessible to learners across the entire Caribbean.

“4, 600 have already registered. This school will be available for all of the Caribbean.

“So you will have students from every single country in the region studying at the Guyana digital school,” President Ali said on Thursday night at the opening of International Building Expo 2025.

He noted that the initiative will not only revolutionise access to education but also strengthen ties between nations.

“It allows us to build regional integration and create regional networking among our children,” Dr Ali said.

The digital school is part of the government’s wider push to expand education opportunities utilizing technology to connect students, regardless of their location. Already, the initiative has been rolled out in several schools including the Abram Zuil Secondary School on the Essequibo Coast and Vergenoegen Secondary School.

The platform offers interactive lessons, digital textbooks, and educational videos. It also features live, timetabled lessons where students can interact with teachers, and Artificial Intelligence to identify and address individual learning gaps.

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The family of a boat builder who reportedly drowned is urging the police to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident.

Police Headquarters, in a statement, revealed that Tamesh Takurdin, a 22-year-old from Number 65 Village, Corentyne, Berbice, was out on a trip with three other fishermen when their boat capsized around 16:10 hrs on Wednesday, August 6, near the coast of Corentyne.

It was reported that Takurdin fell out of the boat and was unable to be located in the water.

One of his coworkers, Jenefa Kewley, told reporters that she witnessed Tamesh Chunilall leave the Number 65 Koker to take a boat for a test run.

Jenefa recounted that a few minutes later, Chunilall returned by himself and told the others that his boat had “turned over and Tamesh had drowned.”

Jenefa shared that upon hearing the shocking news, she quickly notified Takurdin’s father, and together with a group of others, they set out to search for him.

“While searching, the bai [Chunilall] ah tell abbay how the boat turnover. The boat knock at the corner and turned over with them,” she related.

She mentioned that they laid out a net in the location where the incident reportedly occurred. Within minutes, a member of the search team jumped into the water, and they located Takurdin’s body at the Number 65 Channel around 17:45 hrs.

The police also joined the search.

The police report noted that there was froth coming from Takurdin’s nose and mouth. They checked his body for signs of violence, but none were found.

Takurdin was transported to Skeldon Public Hospital, where he was officially declared dead.

On  August 7, a postmortem revealed that he died from asphyxia and drowning.

Jenefa dismissed the rumors suggesting that Takurdin had been drinking before the trip, clarifying that it was Chunilall who was seen drinking early in the morning. She also noted that there were only two people on the boat.

“What them saying that the bai drink and work, the bai nah drink. Because at 3 o’clock, me and he was making jokes. That man don’t drink and work,” she said.

Omarpersaud Takurdin, the victim’s father, stated, “Me gah get justice for my son.”

Radica Ramanandan, the man’s grandmother, voiced her wish for a thorough investigation into the incident to ensure that justice is served.

“… I would like the Commander of Region Six and the police to investigate this matter very seriously,” she said.

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