THREE pupils from separate schools for the second consecutive year have secured identical marks to be awarded the top position at the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA).

At a ceremony held at the New Pegasus Corporate Centre in Kingston, Georgetown, Education Minister Priya Manickchand announced that Glasford Archer of Leonora Primary School, Ritisha Gobin of the Academy of Excellence, and Anaya Jagnandan of the New Guyana School each received a score of 506.7 out of a possible 507.7.

Minister Manickchand during her presentation, announced the top performers in each of the 11 education districts. This was followed by the top 10 national performers.

Because several pupils shared the same marks, a total of 12 were identified as the nation’s top 10 performers.

In addition to the abovementioned trio, the top 10 included Savanna Mc Intosh of Green Acres Primary, Aradhya Ramjag of Mae’s Under 12, Relance Marcus of Green Acres Primary, Samara James and Arianna Samad of Mae’s Under 12, who all secured 505.8 marks to share the fourth position.

Reyad Baksh of Saraswat Primary, Rhea Jaiserrisingh of New Guyana School, Afeerah Ali of Chateau Margot Primary and Jada Pike of Winfer Gardens Primary, were each awarded the ninth position with a score of 505.7 marks each.

Meanwhile, with regard to the regional performances, for Region One, Sashana Henry’s outstanding performance has earned her a place at The Bishop’s High School. For Region Two, the top performer Avron Doodnauth was awarded a place at Queen’s College.

Archer and Gobin tied for the top spot for Region Three and they too will be heading to Queen’s College when the new academic year begins in September.

The top pupil for Region Four, which does not include Georgetown is Afreerah Ali of Château Margot Primary School, who was awarded a place at Queen’s College.

For Region Five, the top performer Diana Hariprashad of the Cotton Tree Primary School was awarded a place at Queen’s College, while for Region Six, Jade Archibald, Aaron Anamayah, and Annalisa Siriram tied for first place and will all be heading to Queen’s College as well.

Aresia Cornelius, a pupil of Karrau Creek Primary School, won the highest honour for Region Seven and was awarded a place at The Bishop’s High School.

For Region Eight, Kyle Mark of Paramakatoi Primary School, was awarded a place at the St. Joseph High School and is the region’s top performer.

The top spot for Region Nine went to Makeda Johnson who has earned herself a place at St. Stanislaus College.

Selah Erskine, a pupil of the Regma Primary School, is Region 10’s top performer and she was placed at Queen’s College

For Georgetown, Anaya Jagnandan of the New Guyana School is the top performer and she has secured a spot at Queen’s College.

Minister Manickchand in her remarks pointed out that more students from public schools had earned positions in the top five national schools.

Among the 868 pupils who have secured places at Queen’s College, The Bishop’s High School, St. Stanislaus College, St. Rose’s High, and St. Joseph High, 499 came from public schools, while the remaining 369 came from private schools.

EQUAL EDUCATION
Although top performers usually receive a lot of attention, Minister Manickchand emphasised once more that her ministry is focused on providing equal education at all schools.

Along with a concentration on the arts, technical and vocational education, and sound academic support, this includes physical education, foreign languages, and volunteerism.

In her presentation, Minister Manickchand explained that she is extremely proud of all the pupils who wrote the 2023 NGSA as it must be remembered that this batch was at a critical point in their education journey when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“We don’t talk about COVID anymore…we have forgotten about COVID, but the children who wrote these exams were in Grades Three when we asked them to stay home. An important foundation year for literacy, numeracy concepts, for important concepts in science and social studies, and for concepts that we found extremely difficult to teach online or through packages because they were so young at that time. Grade Three is just out of the early childhood phase where it is very hard to keep their attention online. And so, we had to craft ways of making sure that we caught up with the learning lost and engaged our children meaningfully,” she explained.

While Minister Manickchand said that she is pleased with this year’s results, she emphasised that “being pleased doesn’t mean we’re stopping.”