-earns 21 Grade Ones at single sitting

-by Kyler Rollins

Excelling academically is nothing new for this year’s top Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) student, Nitya Narine, who hails from Region Six.

The 15-year-old earned an impressive 26 Grade Ones and one Grade Two, setting a new national record for the most Grade Ones earned at the CSEC level.

Before making history with Guyana’s highest number of Grade Ones at CSEC, Nitya’s academic journey began at New Market Primary, where she wrote the 2021 National Grade Six Assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her performance earned her a place at The Bishop’s High School before she later transferred to Tagore Memorial Secondary.

But her talent extends beyond academics. Nitya has excelled in art, recently winning a Guyana-China Friendship Society competition that earned her a trip to China, and she also won the inaugural Guyana Learning Channel Spelling Bee. Now, at just 15, Guyana’s top-performing 2026 CSEC student reflects on the discipline, sacrifices and journey behind her record-breaking achievement.

“I thank God for having blessed me with my academic abilities and I always believe that I had the potential to do extremely well, judging by my performances throughout the years. So yes, I believe that if I had set my goal and work extremely hard towards it then my results would’ve been satisfactory which was indeed what I had done. I achieved and I’m proud of myself and I thank everyone that helped me along the way,” she said.

Throughout her academic journey, Nitya has had the support of her parents, who are both educators.  Her father, Vishal Narine, an Education Officer in Region Six, expressed immense pride and joy at his daughter’s remarkable achievement.

“I feel very blessed to be the father of such a brilliant child. She’s a very gifted child…We take different responsibilities in working with her. So for example her mother worked with her with her basic reading and writing skills, literacy and numeracy even before she was at nursery,” he said.

The aspiring attorney-at-law says her next step is to begin her studies at the University of Guyana, with her sights firmly set on becoming an accomplished lawyer.