MINISTER of Education, Priya Manickchand on Tuesday announced that the Ministry of Education has launched two new textbooks to aid in primary school pupils’ studies for the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA).

Minister Manickchand made this announcement via a video posted across the ministry’s social media platforms where she noted that they have produced a new resource to aid in pupils’ studies.

“[We are] going to introduce to you, there is the concise notes for NGSA Social Studies; then there is the concise notes for NGSA Science,” she said.

The education minister noted that what this does is put all the ‘heavy’ notes that pupils previously put in exercise books into concise form for their benefit.

Manickchand stated, “So if they know this and they answer questions in and around these notes and they understand these concepts, they’re bang on ready for those exams.”

This addition she said is relevant for Grades Four, Five and Six pupils across the country in their preparation for NGSA.

She noted that the ministry is engaged in the printing of these books but is well aware that the printing process usually takes a long time. In the interim, the ministry has made the books available via its website.

She stated, “We are printing these but printing processes take long because we have to go out to public bid and that takes a while and then people take a while to print. These are also available on our website”.

Minister Manickchand encouraged parents and teachers to ensure that they use the resources effectively for their children to be ready for the national Social Studies and Science examinations.

This move is part of the ministry’s thrust to improve overall outcomes at the NGSA across the country.

Earlier this year, during the announcement of the 2024 NGSA results, the minister stated that the ministry has to work on ensuring that there is sustained improvement in the teaching-learning process that is supported by resources.

At that time, the minister noted that this would include training and retraining of teachers along with the provision of textbooks and other things that teachers might need to have.

This also adds to the overall programme set in place for the improvement of grades in subject areas like Mathematics.