NGSA begins today

…safety measures in place – Education Minister

Thousands of students will be writing the National Grade Six Assessment today and Thursday.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand in wishing the students well said that the curriculum that teachers have thought caters for the fact that students were out of school for an entire year and it forgives that period.
She also pointed out that the students would have received the most help from the numerous learning resources that would have been provided by the Ministry in preparations for these exams.
“You’re also going to have the distinction of being the students with the most help; the most resources,” she stated.

“We gave you all the text books you need. We gave you past papers and worksheets. We created a new curriculum just for you. We did NGSA booster programmes where teachers taught on the learning channel and did videos of every topic likely to come. We did the Quiz Me platform where you could’ve answered thousands of quizzes and could have gotten the answers and the corrections immediately. We did the Whiz Kid programme.”
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.
The Minister also noted that other resources such as masks, pencils, erasers and rulers would have been given to the students as they embark on this examination journey.
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.
Manickchand sent best wishes and words of encouragement to the students expected to sit the exams and encouraged them to apply all that they would have learnt throughout the preparation period.
She also reminded the students that the results of the exams do not define who they are and what they are destined to become later in life and that their parents will love them regardless.

Manickchand noted that the Ministry hopes to provide the results of the exam by mid-October.
Grade Six Students will be sitting their English Papers One and Two exams in the morning and Science Papers One and Two in the afternoon.
On Thursday, they will be writing Mathematics Papers One and Two in the morning and Social Studies Papers One and Two in the afternoon.
This year, there are 33 new examination centres spread across the 11 education districts where candidates will be writing the examination.
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.
The Education Ministry had recorded an 85 per cent turnout on the first day of the NGSA mock exams in June.