The top performers for this year’s National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) are Dave Chowtie of the Graham’s Hall Primary School and Venisha Lall of the CV Nunes Primary on the Essequibo Coast.

Both pupils secured 532 marks at the exams. The announcement was made this morning by Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry at the National Center for Education Research and Development (NCERD).

Top performers for each region were Shemmol Chan (Region One), Venisha Lall (Region Two), Ruth Larson (Region Three), Sarita Somai (Region Four), Umahankar Singh (Region Five), Chitra Ramdihal (Region Six), Sumehra Jardine (Region Seven), Celestia Masir (Region Eight) , Alana Lewis (Region) Nine and Jasmine Simpson (Region Ten).

Chowtie was named top student for the Georgetown district.

This year 14,300 candidates wrote the examinations, with the highest possible total score obtainable being 536 marks.

This year  there has been improvement in Mathematics  as compared to 2018. This year 42% of the candidates gained 50% and more. In 2018 the figure stood at 38.3%.

In addition , all the administrative regions recorded improvements in Mathematics , with Regions 2,3 and 8 showing “significant improvement.”

In the English subject area, the ministry noted that there was a stable performance this year (57.4%) when compared to last year (60%) in which 50% of the candidates secured passes.

The Education Ministry said it continues to implement the emergency mathematics Intervention Plan , which it noted entails a number of aspects.

These  include the training for teachers in content and methodology, facilitating fortnightly cluster meetings in all administrative regions , the recruitment of mathematics coordinators and monitors as well as the training of officers and school administrators to supervise in the teaching of mathematics.

The plan also included the administering of  a diagnostic assessment of pupils in the Hinterland regions prior to training of teachers , enhancement of public relations and parental involvement in education of teachers.