ASPIRING teacher, Nirvana Wimal of Success Elementary School, attained 524 out of the maximum 527 marks at the 2021 National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) to prevail as the best performing pupil.

This announcement was made during a ceremony held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre on Friday.
Wimal is followed by Parris Timmerman of Chateau Margot Primary and Deja Datt of New Guyana School, who both attained 523 marks to share the second spot. Jada Persaud of Success Elementary secured the fourth position with 522 marks.

With 521 marks each in the fifth position are Aditi Joshi of Mae’s Under 12, Joshua Mc Arthur of Vryheid’s Lust Primary, Shabaka Yisrael and J’Kell Whyte of Success Elementary, Khevin Sandy of Lowe’s Academy and Chelsea Persaud of Dharmic Rama Krishana.
Briefly speaking with the media after the announcement ceremony, young Wimal shared her joy of having earned such a prestigious position. She also recalled the hard work she has done to get to where she is.

“I feel very happy and glad that my hard work paid off. I had many sleepless nights. After school I would have lessons and homework. Sometimes I would go to bed around 12 to sleep and wake up to start again. I would also take extra lessons on Saturdays,” she noted.
Meanwhile, for Datt, placing among the country’s top 10 performers is a dream come true and a testament that with hard work, anyone can achieve their goals.

“I started working from since last year because it has always been my dream to be in the top 10, whether it be for the region or for the entire nation. So just to experience this today and realise how far I’ve come has really been a stepping stone in my life and I couldn’t be any happier,” Datt shared.

Aside from her own hard work, she credited her extensive support network that was behind her every step of the way.
“I would like to thank everyone who has cheered me on, without them I wouldn’t be standing here today feeling as proud of myself as I am,” she said.

Expressing surprise at her fourth place position, Persaud said she is glad that her hard work has paid off.
“I was not expecting this. But I worked so hard. We had school online and there were days we had to be in front of the computer for hours, and that was hard, but I knew then that if I continued doing it, it could have a reward, so I continued and I stayed strong and I’m happy how it turned out to be,” Persaud shared.

The NGSA results were announced by Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, who congratulated all the pupils on their performance this year. She noted that notwithstanding it being a hard year due to COVID-19 pandemic, the students rose to the occasion and collectively did better than many of the cohorts from previous years.

“This has been a hard, hard year for education all over the world. It was a hard year for parents, worrying year for teachers, an anxiety inducing year for children. This is the year we had to innovate in education. [But] the year we had the worst year is the year we produced the most,” Manickchand commented while delivering the feature address.

A total of 13,822 pupils wrote the NGSA this year. They were tested in the areas of Mathematics, English, Social Studies and Science, to assess them for placement in a secondary school.

Those in the top 10 have all attained a placement at the country’s premier secondary school, Queen’s College (QC). A total of 167 pupils secured a place at QC. The cut-off score for a place there is 510.

The cut-off scores for the remaining public sixth form schools are the Bishops’ High School, 505; St Stanislaus College, 501; St Rose’s High, 498; St Joseph High, 494 and President’s College, 484.

The top performers for each of the education districts were also announced on Friday, with at least one pupil from each district attaining a place at one of the public sixth form schools.

For Region One, Troy Roberts of Port Kaituma Primary gained a place at the Bishop’s High after earning 508 marks to top that district. CV Nunes Primary’s Shreya Ramnarine topped Region Two with 517 marks, while Giselle Nicholson of Lenora Primary topped Region Three with 520 marks. Wimal was the top pupil for Region Four (East Bank Demerara and East Coast Demerara).

Rosignol Primary’s Tiana Hughes was best performer for Region Five with 511 marks, while just across the river in Region Six, Raphael Omarao of Skeldon Primary topped with 518 marks.

Potaro Primary’s Sabastian Khan topped Region Seven and earned himself a spot at the St Joseph’s High with 495 marks. With 504 marks, Mahdia Primary’s Ishmaiah La Cruz was the best performer for Region Eight, while Aisha De Freitas of Arapaima Primary gained 517 marks to top Region Nine.

The best performer in Region 10 is Watooka Day Primary’s Akiera Campbell who got 518 marks. Datt is the top performer for Region 11 which is Georgetown.