…say Min. of Education, Chief Education Officer

By Vishani Ragobeer

MINISTER of Education, Dr. Nicolette Henry, and Chief Education Officer (CEO), Marcel Hutson, highlighted that the results of this year’s National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) are expected to surpass all other years, given the emphasis placed on boosting the education sector.

“Well naturally, when you put in the hard work you expect to get the results and so this year, given the volume of work we would’ve put into this National Grade Six Examination, it is my expectation that the results would surpass all previous years,” Minister Henry stated.
“I’m looking forward to really great results this year.”

She also indicated that even outside of her own personal inspections, the briefing she would have received from her technical officers, including the CEO, indicates that the pupils are indeed well-prepared for the 2019 examination.

Adding to the minister’s statements was CEO, Marcel Hutson, who related: “There are a number of things we would have done with our teachers [and] with our students and I think we are ready. We believe we will see better results this time because of all the efforts of the different persons.” According to him, there were several targeted interventions from the Ministry of Education (MoE) that have given the ministry reason to believe that this year’s results will surpass all others.

Among the interventions the MoE engaged in this year were training and professional development sessions for teachers across the different subject areas, subject camps where children received extra lessons and remedial classes. And according to the CEO, these interventions were guided by the MoE’s diagnostic examinations, better known as mock exams, which gave perspective to what gaps existed in the education sector. These mock exams also served to give the children a feel of the examinations so that they could be more relaxed in the actual examination.

In 2018, it was reported that 38 per cent of the 14,145 students who wrote the 2018 NGSA passed mathematics. This was below the 45 per cent passes recorded in 2017. English Language, on the other hand, climbed to a 60 per cent pass rate.

Cognisant of the deficiencies seen in mathematics, the MoE continued its ‘Math camps’ where over 1000 children benefited since its introduction in 2018. Through these camps, Grade Six pupils attend extra mathematics classes from 09:00hrs to 12:00hrs on Saturdays at various schools.

On Wednesday, as they shared their views, the minister and CEO visited a few primary schools in Georgetown just minutes before the first day of examinations began.

“It’s really important for me to come to the schools to see how relaxed and prepared the students are and to give them words of encouragement,” Dr. Henry indicated. And this is something she has done throughout her years as Minister of Education, and she affirmed that she will continue to check up on the pupils for as long as she is minister. At the same time, eager parents lined the environs of the schools anxiously awaiting their children’s return from the examination room.

“All I want to say is thank God for waking me up and waking up my son this morning to see this good day. I’m kinda confident that he’s gonna try his best and I encouraged him to do his best and put all the effort that he can,” parent of St. Gabriel’s Primary school pupil, Jerelyn Vanlang, shared with the Guyana Chronicle.

Another parent of a St. Gabriel’s Primary school girl, Rudy Denhart said, “I’m very confident that she is going to do well because over the years we’ve been monitoring her progress, and I’m very confident that she will do well.” Pupils writing the NGSA finished their English Language and Science examinations on Wednesday, and will sit their Mathematics and Social-Studies examinations on Thursday.

Reflecting on the first two subjects, Clayanna Brummel of the St. Gabriel’s Primary School shared, “The examinations were good but some [science] questions were a bit difficult.”
Another pupil of this school, Mekhi Ritchie, also related that most of the examination went well, except for two questions in the English examination which confused him just a bit. And speaking about his preparations leading up to the NGSA, Ritchie highlighted: “I woke up 4 o’clock and I studied from 4 o’clock to 6 o’clock every day and then in the nights I would go and study more.” As such, he said that he felt good about the remaining two exams.