IN JAMAICA: Edufocal awards top GSAT, CSEC students.... Guest speaker, Professor Errol Morrison told the young awardees "A thought is faster than the speed of light... whatever the mind can conceive, the revolving technology can achieve,"

BY GORGETTE BECKFORD Career & Education writer  Sunday, July 20, 2014    

EDUFOCAL has awarded nine students for performance in the recent Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) and Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

Edufocal CEO Gordon Swaby (back right) and Edufocal
 Chairman Peter Levy pose with Edufocal GSAT and CSEC
awardees (from left) Matthew Irving, Shamique Francis,
 Shantol Barton, Tyrese Bryan, Thaia Malcom, Danielle Lindo,
and Kariem Lloyd.

Shamique Francis (last year's top GSAT performer), David Ramdeen, and Shantol Barton (top performer) were awarded for excellent work in CSEC, while Danielle Lindo, Thaia Malcom, Kariem Lloyd, Courtney Seivwright, Matthew Irving, and Tyrese Bryan (top performer) were awarded for their work in the GSAT. In addition to the plaques and gift baskets, the top performer from each level was given $30,000.

Edufocal, an interactive, user-friendly online learning environment which employs gamification to engage primary and secondary students, is the brainchild of CEO Gordon Swaby. Its incentivised model promotes learning in a competitive but relaxed community.

At the awards ceremony held at Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, Swaby announced an upcoming SAT partnership, as well as an expansion to include other Caribbean countries. The current platform is concentrated on GSAT and CSEC.

This year marks the second staging of the awards.

Guest speaker Professor Errol Morrison implored the young awardees to open up their thinking and to not limit themselves.

"A thought is faster than the speed of light... whatever the mind can conceive, the revolving technology can achieve," Morrison said.

In the same vein he sought to emphasise the importance of being logical by sharing an anecdote: If there are three birds in a tree and you shoo one, how many would remain? Mathematically, two. But birds are easily frightened so logic dictates that all three would fly away.

The professor, who is currently the director general of the National Commission on Science and Technology, highlighted the significance of using the cellphone as a tool for education. more