On a typical weekday, Elmore Stoutt High School students are required to be sharply dressed in their conservative blue uniforms.
But Monday was different. Dozens of students left the school campus with graffiti painted on their shirts after learning that they had passed the Secondary School Leaving Examinations.
Two hundred and fifty-three students territory-wide secured at least five passes in the tests and met the academic requirements for graduation — a 90 percent pass rate, Education and Culture Minister Myron Walwyn said.
BVI Seventh-day Adventist School produced the highest scoring student: Zora Williams, with 91.72 percent.
ESHS students Creightanya Brewley and Rhevaun Sprauve trailed closely behind with 91.03 percent and 90.25 percent, respectively.
Three of the top 10 English students were from ESHS, three were from Bregado Flax Educational Centre, two were from St. George’s Secondary School, and one each was from Claudia Creque Educational Centre and the BVI Seventh-day Adventist School.
ESHS students earned nine of the top 10 mathematics scores, and a BVI Seventh-day Adventist School student came in 10th.
There were 67 honour studentswho scored grade point averages between 3.0 and 3.9, and six high honour students with GPAs between 4.0 and 4.3.
However, 64 of the 253 students who passed the exams failed to meet the requirement to complete 120 hours of community service, Mr. Walwyn said. The deadline for them to do so has been extended to Tuesday.
Twenty-eight other students failed the exams. Thirteen of them qualified for a six-month programme offered by the Ministry of Education and Culture, which affords them the opportunity to retake the tests and be eligible for graduation.
“Do not see your failure as the end; see it as a speed bump on the road of success,” Mr. Walwyn told students. “Pause to reflect, regroup, and renew your attitude.”
{fcomment}