Excellence developing at all schools across Guyana – Education Minister

…AG credits equitable education investments for rural students’ performances

Education Minister Sonia Parag has said that the top performance by Guyanese students at this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination, as well as other exams such as the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), demonstrates that schools from all across Guyana, backed by government’s investments, are accomplishing excellent results.
“Excellence is happening across schools in Guyana. It is happening on the Coast, in our hinterland, in our remote riverain [and] remote areas. [It is happening in] Georgetown and outside of Georgetown,” Parag stated.
She made these remarks during the announcement of the 2026 CSEC results, which saw Nitya Narine of Tagore Memorial Secondary School in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) topping the country with 26 Grade One passes and one Grade Two pass.

Among the other most outstanding performing students at CSEC were Anushka Singh of Queen’s College, who recorded 25 Grade One passes and one Grade Two pass. Shreya Ramnarine of Anna Regina Secondary School secured 22 Grade One passes, six Grade Two passes, and one Grade Three pass, while Joseph Daniel of The Bishops’ High School recorded 21 Grade One passes.
J’kell Whyte of Queen’s College secured 20 Grade One passes, six Grade Two passes, and one Grade Three pass. Feiaz Dhanny of Saraswati Vidya Niketan recorded 20 Grade One passes and one Grade Two pass.
Abhigyan Chatterdeo of Queen’s College recorded 19 Grade One passes, three Grade Two passes, and one Grade Four pass, while Ethan Thakurdin, also of Queen’s College, secured 19 Grade One passes and six Grade Two passes.
Michel Somwar of Tagore Memorial Secondary School recorded 18 Grade One passes and three Grade Two passes, while Zhijie Yang of Saraswati Vidya Niketan secured 18 Grade One passes and one Grade Two pass.
While the prominent Georgetown schools maintained their usual high pass rates, the education minister used the opportunity to highlight the progress that schools across the various regions have made over the years.
For instance, the Anna Regina Secondary School in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) recorded an 85.2 per cent pass rate; while in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), the West Demerara Secondary School recorded 81.92 per cent and Zeeburg Secondary with 84.6 per cent.
In Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Annandale Secondary School produced a pass rate of 87.5 per cent and Diamond Secondary School with 80.3 per cent. For Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice), Rosignol Secondary School 89.3 per cent, while the Belladrum Secondary recorded a 93.4 per cent pass rate.
Additionally, other Region Six schools like the Berbice High School recorded an 88.6 per cent pass rate, the New Amsterdam Secondary with 88.1 per cent and the J.C. Chandisingh Secondary with 80.2 per cent, while the Mackenzie Secondary School in Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) secured a pass rate of 88.2 per cent.
“Look at what these schools are producing because our teachers and our students are proving year after year that excellence does not belong to a school name, it can be nurtured in every school in Guyana,” Minister Parag declared.

Administration’s investments
These performances are a result of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration’s investments schools all across the country – something which Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall, says has been happening since the party took office in 1992.
He said, “30 years ago, it was unthinkable that a student from Tagore would have topped Guyana, and possibly the Caribbean. The difference is that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic Government has ensured that there is an equitable distribution of resources across the lengthen and breath of country. That ensured that a student, wheresoever geographically located, receives similar a type of educational service and delivery as children in the urban centres of Guyana. And every year’s results are showing that.”
According to Nandlall, more significant than Guyana consistently producing the top CSEC performers in the Caribbean, is where these students hail from – rural communities across the country. For decades, Nandlall pointed out that students in rural communities across the country were systematically failed under previous regimes that only prioritised a few schools.
“Schools in the rural areas were denied an equitable or even a fair share of resources and therefore, the students in those rural communities…suffered as a result of an almost discriminatory and highly skewed allocation of resources… That was under the PNC (People’s National Congress),” he stated.
To this end, the Attorney General, while recognising that more work needs to be done especially in improving performances in certain subjects, declared that the results achieved over the past few years under the PPP/C must not be taken for granted.
“These results that you’re seeing here are as a result of deliberate, programmatic planning and investments in a manner and form that ensured that resources are distributed equitably, fairly and in an even-handed manner so that every student and every child in this country have a fair a chance.”
“I feel proud to be a part of our government. We are achieving what we’ve set out to achieve, that is, to ensure that our children have equal access to the same high quality of education, which is reflected in the results. Of course, there are challenges, there are deficiencies, there are inadequacies, and we have to work to correct it. But it’s far better than where we were just a few decades back,” Nandlall asserted.