…Min. Henry

DIRECTOR of Economics at the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Dr Justin Ram, has suggested that Guyana abolish its primary school exit examination, known as the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) and provide better educational opportunities for all children.

The CDB Director, while addressing a gathering of private sector officials on Friday night, spoke on the role of education in transforming Guyana’s human capital. While making his presentation, he said: “Is there still an 11-plus examination [known as the NGSA] here in Guyana? I would want to recommend to you to get rid of that.”

“We need to ensure that all students have access to good quality education and not only the few that are successful at the 11-plus [examinations],” he said, later adding: “It shouldn’t be the case that at age 11, your life chances are made up; ; too often I see that across the Caribbean.”

In Guyana, the NGSA is written while pupils are in Grade Six, which is the final grade of primary school. After engaging in this assessment, the pupils are graded and assigned to schools based on their performances.

When ranked, the top performing pupils would gain positions in “Senior Secondary Schools”, which are Queen’s College, the Bishops’ High, St. Stanislaus College, St. Roses’ High, St. Joseph’s High and President’s College. Pupils who did not score enough to get into these schools would attend junior secondary schools, which may be close to where they reside.

Dr. Ram’s statement was met with resounding applause from the scores of businesspersons present at the gathering. But he hastened to add that abolishing the examination is one factor, but the other factor to be considered is that the standard of education must be the same at all secondary schools.

“It’s not just getting rid of the exam, you have to ensure that whatever secondary school that student goes to, they will have access to the best quality education,” Dr. Ram said.

And according to the economist, if Guyana is going to use those significant oil revenues it expects next year come ‘first oil’ to invest into the country’s development, the government should look into investing in the country’s human capital and in good quality education for all.

Guyana’s own Minister of Education, Dr. Nicolette Henry, has welcomed the suggestion from Dr. Ram, but noted that before such a decision is made, there are several steps to be taken.

“It would be ideal to have that (abolishing the NGSA), but we are not at a stage where things are ideal here. Looking forward, in terms of long-term, I can see so many changes taking place and who knows what we would eventually morph into in terms of when the education system is able to make even more tangible improvements,” Minister Henry told this newspaper.

Explaining some of the prerequisites, Dr. Henry said that the education system must be able to function at a rate where children will be achieving higher scores in evaluative assessments, in whatever form those may take. Additionally, she said that pupils’ attendance must also be at high rates.

What is needed, essentially, according to the Minister, is that standard of primary education must be improved first so that when children go into secondary school, they can “realise their full potential”.

Last week, as the results of this year’s NGSA were announced, Chief Education Officer Marcel Hutson highlighted: “We are now in the process of reforming our curriculum so that we can catch those children that need extra help and of course find the kind of content and methodology [that] will improve performances of our children.”

But when speaking to the Guyana Chronicle on Monday, Minister Henry said “[Abolishing NGSA] is something that we have looked at. I think every country or every minister of education I have interacted with, I think they would love to see their students performing at a level that you don’t have to stream them, [instead] you would just have to assist them.”

In fact, she even reminded that other countries in the region have already begun engaging on the issue and opined that this should be a topical matter when the Education Ministers within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) meet soon.

Last month, Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, announced that the country’s Minister of Education would begin engaging in the abolition of their 11-plus examination and instead introduce “middle schools”.

“We have to create an educational system that makes every school a top school!” Mottley said then.

President David Granger, in a recent interview, said that he believes that the ‘exam’ should be seen as a normal part of a child’s education, and shouldn’t be used to label them as either ‘bright’ and ‘dull’. Ideally, he related that it is his vision for Guyana to have a completely educated nation and that as far as he and his government are concerned, education is of paramount importance to every facet of life.

And to this end, he shared that he is hoping to have a “top school” in each region.

But abolishing the NGSA in Guyana is not a practical solution, at the moment, Minister Henry reiterated.

“We are not at that place, I think in the long-term once we continue in our current trajectory… I pray for the day when we here in Guyana can begin to strategise just how we’re going to get to that,” she said.