…Min Henry tells National Assembly

THE Ministry of Education is implementing several corrective measures to improve the pass rates in mathematics and English of the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) 2018.
This is according to Education Minister Nicolette Henry who made the announcement at the National Assembly on Wednesday in response to questions put forward by Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Africo Selman.

Some of the strategies being taken as listed by the minister include capacity-building and training for head teachers, education officers and teachers and the strengthening, monitoring and supervision of school teachers.

Efforts are also being made towards programme development at primary levels countrywide which comprise intervention and remedial programmes.
Added to this, the ministry has launched Mathematic Camps for Grade 4-6 pupils and parental and community engagement in all regions.

The PPP MP also queried whether the ministry is making special efforts to improve the performance of pupils in the interior with timely access to textbooks and other materials.
Henry responded in the affirmative, stating that the ministry has taken note of the needs and challenges specific to hinterland communities with several of the aforementioned plans also assisting in this regard.

She then took the opportunity to reaffirm the ministry’s commitment to ensure that Guyana’s pass rate in general continues to increase in the future years.
“I have to point out that the 2018 results for National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), in the instance of English language, it turned out to be the best year in terms of performance where we recorded 60 per cent passes,” Henry said, adding:
“I recognise that when you have 40 per cent of your students not passing examinations, it is something to be concerned about but, of course, it speaks to where we’re coming from and where we’re going and we will continue to work to ensure that we have improved examinations results throughout the education system.”

At the sitting of the Assembly, Henry was also called upon to expound on the previous expenditure of $48.6 M on “Emergency Education intervention for improved performance in mathematics by students in Grade Six”.

She was asked to identify how the funds were spent on improving the students’ performance. In response, Henry said that 548 teachers of the Grade 5 and 6 levels were trained in content and methodology across all educational districts in the country at a sum of $28M, while for the recruitment of 10 mathematics coordinators and 40 monitors, the sum of $7M was invested.

She added that an additional $6.8M was spent on the training of 452 school administrators, coordinators and head teachers in Regions 1,3,8,9 and 10 to supervise the Grade 5 and 6 mathematics teachers.

Meanwhile, for the diagnostic assessment done in all regions, $2.9M was spent on this initiative which did a numeracy diagnostic instrument which was designed for pupils entering grade 9.

In Community-based participation $3.4M was spent which brought the total amount spent to $48.6M which was approved for the emergency intervention.

Addressing additional funds and resources used in 2017 and in which areas, Henry detailed that three areas were awarded funding whereby the Government spent a total of $250 M. In that regard, $62M was spent on text books for students in grade 6; $153M was spent on the training of teachers, administrators, coordinators and monitors countrywide while $35M was used primarily for placing ads, mathematic clinics and mock examinations.