15,268 students to sit NGSA 2023

…papers to be translated for Spanish learners

Some 15,268 students will be writing the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) on May 3 and 4 this year, the Education Ministry has announced.
As part of the Ministry’s efforts to support pupils writing the assessment, several measures have been taken and were shared on Monday.
In a social media announcement, Education Minister Priya Manickchand underscored that pupils writing NGSA will now have more time to complete their exams. Tested across four core subject areas: Mathematics, English, Science and Social Studies, each exam will last 70 minutes.
“We believe you will be ready. Go in there and do your best. Whichever school you get, we’re going to make sure that school offers you a high-quality secondary education that prepares you for life in this thriving Guyana that we have now.”
She also noted that for the first time, the examination papers will be translated for the Spanish-speaking learners.
“We are translating the papers in Spanish for Spanish-speaking children. That’s a first in Guyana also,” the Minister shared.
In addition to this, the number of examination centres has increased to 517. This means pupils will no longer have to travel far distances to complete their examinations.
Minister Manickchand noted that the Ministry is aware of the challenges faced by pupils as they were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, she highlighted that the Ministry has made significant investments in support of learners to prepare them for the upcoming examinations.
Some of these were the distribution of textbooks to all primary school pupils, broadcasting curriculum-centred programmes on the Guyana Learning Channel and YouTube platforms, development of the Quiz Me platform and making NGSA past papers available on the Ministry’s website.
“We took a lot of measures to ensure that you are prepared for these assessments, including giving all the textbooks you need to every single child across the country, putting all the topics on video and showing them on the Guyana Learning Channel and YouTube…,” she identified.
Manickchand further expressed confidence in the pupils’ abilities to excel at this year’s examinations. The results from the 2023 sitting of the placement examination is due by July 11, 2023. (G12)