Math Intervention Campaign launched in Essequibo

Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand has emphasised the crucial role of parents in ensuring their children utilise the available resources, attend school regularly, and actively practice to boost Mathematics scores countrywide.

This was the overarching encouragement on Wednesday as the ministry kicked off its Mathematics Intervention Awareness Campaign with visits to schools in Pomeroon-Supenaam.

The campaign brought together ministry officials, parents, teachers, and students from several schools, including Charity Secondary, Cotton Field Secondary, Joanna Cecilia Secondary, Abram Zuil Secondary, and Aurora Secondary School.

The campaign aims to promote the National Mathematics Intervention Programme, which was launched in September.

The programme targets some 50 schools nationwide and seeks to enhance the performance of teachers and students in Mathematics, through the introduction of Math monitors.

“The whole aim was to let them know that they can pass Mathematics once they use the resources we have. We believe that once they have the resources and they are supervised in their usage of them, we can make sure our children do better than they are doing now,” the minister said during a live recap.

The ministry provides resources such as past paper booklets, geometry sets, scientific calculators, graph books, and textbooks to every child nationwide.

The minister has expressed confidence that these measures will boost the national pass rate for Mathematics in 2025 to at least 40 per cent, compared to 34 per cent in 2023 and 31 per cent in 2024.

Coordinator for the Mathematics Intervention and Education Officer at the National Centre for Research and Development, Sir Leon Beaton also accompanied the minister on this visit.

He pointed to several interactive programmes under his gamut, such as ‘Beating Da Maths’, a series where students are challenged with fun and tricky math questions. This series makes math enjoyable, as well as deepens students’ understanding of the subject.

Additionally, to address any concerns or request additional assistance, a hotline number 736-MATH is available for teachers and others involved.

The rollout of this initiative follows an instruction from President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali to implement immediate remedial measures in schools.