NGSA to be written in August

─ MoE to provide educational resources to students and teachers

Minister of Education, Hon. Priya Manickchand has announced that the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) will be written on August 4 and 5, 2021.

At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, the Minister said candidates will write Papers I and II for each subject. Some 14,300 candidates are expected to sit the exams. This is an increase from last year’s 14,032 candidates.

Minister Manickchand said a 20-week curriculum will be used to prepare students who are writing the exams. Teachers would be briefed on what needs to be taught to prepare their students through a consolidated curriculum.

“The consolidated curriculum intends to ensure equity and equality in our education system. It is a resource document for Grade Six teachers. It is extracted from the existing curriculum and does not introduce any new concepts.  It is crafted by experts, including international consultants and officers at the National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD). It distils the core skills and competencies appropriate for learners at the Grade Five level,” theMinister said.

She emphasised that the content remains the same as many concepts were repeated in the existing curriculum “for constant practice, which progresses further into Grade-specific and appropriate treatment of topics.”

Further, she said the Ministry is committed to providing support in the form of educational resources to both teachers and students during this period to ensure students remain in school and education is delivered properly.

Students in both public and private schools will receive packages containing worksheets, learning material and past papers to help them to prepare for the exams. Additionally, students in public schools will receive textbooks such as Let’s Do Math, Fun with Language, Science Around Us, Social Studies for Our Students and others.

Further, all of the resources, except for the copyrighted material, can be accessed from the Ministry’s website https://www.education.gov.gy/web/ Minister Manickchand noted that following the examinations, systems would be put in place to ensure these are returned so future Grade Six students can utilise them as well.

The Guyana Learning Channel will also be airing scheduled revision programmes for Grade Six students.

“There will be two mock examinations administered leading up to the official examination dates,” the Minister said.

Teachers will also continue to interact with students virtually as schools remain closed.

Minister Manickchand said the decision to host the examinations was taken after extensive consultations with teachers, parents and students across the country. She noted that while there is an option of opting out of the examination, students who utilise this will be placed at a secondary school using the regional average scores.