THE results of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate Examination (CSEC) has once again demonstrated that our Guyanese students are doing well, thanks to the enhanced quality of education delivery at all levels of the education pyramid.  Queen’s College, the premier secondary school in the country, has again topped the list by having four of the top 10 performers. That was followed by the Saraswati Vidya Niketan in Region Three and the Anna Regina and Abram Zuil Secondary Schools in Region Two.

The results highlighted some interesting trends regarding student-attainment levels. One such trend is a much more even spread of student-performance levels throughout the country. This is indeed an encouraging and welcome development and demonstrated that with good school management and strong parental and community involvement, any school can do well. Abram Zuil is one such example. The school has grown in size and stature over the years to become one of the top performing schools not only in Region Two, but in the entire country. Its rise to a top performing school came about largely because of high levels of commitment by staff members coupled with parental involvement.

These are essential ingredients for higher levels of student attainment and Abram Zuil Secondary School must be given credit for having now gained the national spotlight after having transcended the threshold of average performing schools. Indeed, there are valuable lessons to be learnt from Abram Zuil Secondary School, namely, that with good management of the curricula, high levels of teacher commitment and active parent/community involvement, it is possible for any school to do well, regardless of geographic location.

Another interesting development is the emergence of an increasing number of private schools which now provide options to parents and guardians, who for whatever reason or reasons may opt to send their children to private schools. These schools, many of which are managed by religious organisations, have been doing relatively well in terms of student-attainment levels and have proven to be good complements to the public education system. These schools now offer a much greater range of choices to parents and guardians, who otherwise may have been limited only to schools allocated to their children on the basis of the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA).

Then there is the noticeable trend of what is described as “male underachievement,” which refers to a tendency for female students to outperform their male counterparts, especially at primary and secondary schooling. This phenomenon is not unique to Guyana. Several theories have been advanced by children development practitioners, some of which are sociological, such as the absence of male role models in the classroom, differentiated attitudes by parents and teachers towards educating boys.

The government has done a commendable job in making quality education accessible to a much larger cohort of the student population and for creating the requisite teaching/learning environment for our students not only to do well, but also to excel. This augurs well for us as a country and as a society, especially at this stage in our economic life when a critical mass of brain power is so necessary to drive the development process.