STEM, MoE launch NGSA app
An official of STEM Guyana, Colin Sawh gives the audience a crash course of how the app works. Seated in the front row are First Lady, Sandra Granger, Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry and other officials of the ministry and STEM (Adrian Narine photo)
An official of STEM Guyana, Colin Sawh gives the audience a crash course of how the app works. Seated in the front row are First Lady, Sandra Granger, Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry and other officials of the ministry and STEM (Adrian Narine photo)

-as part of effort to improve performance in key subject areas

SCIENCE, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Guyana has collaborated with the Ministry of Education (MOE) to launch the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) practice exam app, months before the actual examination.

Students, teachers and parents could download the app from the Google Play Store where it is listed as “N.G.S.A practice exam,” said Co-founder of STEM Guyana, Karen Abrams during the launch of the app at the National Center for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) on Monday.

The advent and rapid advancement of technology has altered the delivery of education and Abrams believes that Guyana has some catching up to do in order to prepare the youths for a future that will be heavily influenced by technology. “Our world is changing faster than ever…and in order for youths to thrive we urgently need to reimagine education,” said Abrams, adding that research revealed that 65 per cent of primary-age pupils will work in jobs that have not yet been invented.

Research also indicated that robots can soon replace 800 million jobs worldwide, while studies on Western countries like Australia estimated that 70 per cent of the jobs that exist today will be affected by artificial intelligence and automation.

In light of the findings of the studies, she said that persons cannot predict what the future would look like but parents and teachers could equip the children to be prepared for any version of the future world.

Abrams believes that the app is a catalyst for advancement in the education sector, especially when considering the uses of technology in that area.

The App available for download in the Google Play Store

The app will allow students to access past examination papers for the four key primary subject areas which include Mathematics, Science, English and Social Studies.

“Students should not fail mathematics and science in primary school… we worked to make a tool which will allow access to past test questions, the explanations and the answers,” she explained, adding that parents will be better equipped to monitor how long and what their children study.

She said the ministry and STEM also intends to test the overall effectiveness of the app by conducting a research in four schools from various parts of the country. President, David Granger in an effort to aid the research process had donated 90 android tablets to STEM. The MoE on the other hand was tasked with going out to the interior and hinterland locations to inform persons about the app and its benefits.

“We want to ensure that every student gets the opportunity to be resilient lifelong learners who approach the world with curiosity and think independent and original,” she said.

Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry supported the notion of grooming students to be creative and innovative thinkers. She said children should not be just master academics but should also develop their vocational skills which can only be acquired through the provision of compulsory primary education.

Their vision is to improve the performance of students at international and external examinations and Henry believes that the app is one such way of doing that. “The app joins other initiatives such as the nationwide mathematics camp…it will help to monitor the performance in core subjects,” she said. The minister however believes that there is a need for more methods to improve the performance in the areas of Mathematics and English. Henry believes that the app will make that a possibility once students pay attention to and take full advantage of it.

First Lady, Sandra Granger was also excited about the app and intrigued by the work of STEM Guyana which was established only two years ago.

She recalled the 2017 international robotics competition that Guyana contested and ended 10th out of 165 countries. “This shows that our youths have been using initiative, imagination and teamwork…four of the STEM Guyana ladies went to Georgia Tech to be attached to the robotics lab and that is no small feat,” she said.

The First Lady told the gathering that more girls need to be involved in the area of technology and by extension STEM. In years to come, she believes that those are the fields that will have the high income jobs so youths need to be more inclined to be a part of it.

She again referred to the app that has the potential to encourage persons to value technology. In order to increase the reach of the app, Mrs. Granger advised STEM and the ministry to partner with Digicel which has coverage in the interior locations. She also implored them to piggyback on the websites of other ministries that reach children in the hinterland communities.

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