Education Ministry set for NGSA 2021

…exams to be held August 4, 5

The National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) will be written on Wednesday and Thursday, and preparations have been finalised for a smooth rollout across the 33 examination centres across Guyana.
On Wednesday, students will tackle both Papers One and Two for English and Science; followed by Mathematics and Social Studies on Thursday. This is the second year in which the NGSA sittings have been facilitated under COVID-19 regulations.
The Education Ministry said on Saturday that as the pandemic persists, guidelines have been established to ensure the safe and incident-free writing of this examination. These measures include the sanitising and washing of hands before entering examination buildings, the wearing of the recommended face mask, observing and maintaining social distancing at all times; and the cleaning and sanitising of buildings and furniture.
Meanwhile, candidates are not required to wear their respective primary school uniforms. In the case where a child is not dressed in uniform, they must be dressed modestly and as best as possible with clothes that bear little or no writing, pictures and or diagrams that would give cause or contribute to any form of cheating.
“Candidates will be allowed to leave the examination centres to have lunch but must return at least 15 minutes before the beginning of the next session. Candidates can take a bottle of water or suitable liquid to drink into the examination room once the bottle has no writing that can aid the student in the examination,” the Ministry informed.
This year, the 33 new examination centres are spread across eleven education districts. The intention was to make the lives of children and their parents easier by eliminating the burden of having to travel long distances to get to their respective exam centres.
“In addition to the examination centres, the Ministry of Education has established emergency centres that can accommodate those candidates who may have tested positive for COVID-19 or are in quarantine. This was done for the 2021 CSEC and CAPE examinations whereby COVID-19 positive candidates were accommodated and allowed to write their examinations in a separate building.”
Parents of Grade Six students who have tested positive or are in quarantine but are still able to and wish to write the examination are asked to contact the school’s Head Teacher or indicate same to the Department of Education in their respective regions. Parents can also call 226-1237 to make the necessary arrangements.
Further, as of this year, candidates who are 12 years and seven months of age and older will not be penalised with respect to their raw scores as in previous years. This category of candidates will have their raw scores standardised the same way as all other candidates.
“The individual subject scores for each candidate will be given to decimal places and their total score will be rounded to the nearest whole number. This is to ensure a more accurate reflection of each candidate’s performance,” the statement added.
The Ministry has made arrangements for the students in the public education system to receive an NGSA Care Package containing face masks, pencils, erasers, sharpener, hand sanitiser and ruler. Each pupil was given a study package containing notes, worksheets for the four subjects, past papers and 12 textbooks on the four subject areas.
In order to increase the pass rate and prepare students, the Ministry had launched the Quiz Me Platform on its website earlier this year which offered students the opportunity to practice NGSA type questions and be given their results instantaneously. The NGSA Booster Programme was also launched, whereby local teachers recorded teaching the topics were featured. These videos are aired on the Guyana Learning Channel according to a timetabled schedule and are also available for streaming on the Guyana Learning Channel’s YouTube channel. (G12)