NGSA exam date still to be determined – Education Ministry

A date for the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) examinations is still to be determined. This is according to Director of the National Centre of Educational Resources Development, Jennifer Cumberbatch, who on Tuesday said that the Ministry is considering several options.
“We are considering several options because we don’t know what is happening down the line. Once we know when school is going to reopen, we are going to give our students, our parents and the public the specific date so that they will be prepared,” she said.
NGSA practice test papers are available on the Ministry’s website at www.education.gov.gy
With respect to concerns being voiced about the difficulties students are facing while studying at home due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Ministry said that it has embarked on a long-term plan that will guarantee that no student is disenfranchised during this challenging season.
Explaining the systems that will be put in place, Assistant Technical Officer (Tertiary), Patrick Chinedu said that the Ministry would implement sanitisation hubs and improved school policies.
“The Ministry is drafting guidelines as to what would happen when school reopens so that we can maintain sanitary conditions…pretty soon there might be a policy that guides the Ministry forward as to how we should behave in schools,” he said.
Team member of the Ministry’s crisis management team, Chief Planning Officer Nicola Johnson said that the use of smart classrooms and e-testing platforms would become a regular feature in the long term.
“We have started to establish smart classrooms even before, and so we will be expanding on that initiative to establish more smart classrooms and possibly e-testing centres across the country. We’re already in the process of acquiring the software to help not just students but teachers and education officers to use because this will be a new normal for us,” she remarked.
According to Johnson, due to the outbreak of the deadly virus, all public schools have been sanitised, while the Ministry continues to provide daily learning opportunities for nursery, primary and secondary school students countrywide.

Internet issues
However, even as the Ministry promotes e-learning, only last week teachers and students made a call for better internet services to facilitate these activities. Additionally, they also want better prices, especially during this time when the COVID-19 pandemic has halted many economies around the world.
Teachers and students are arguing that the current internet services are not sufficient to effectively facilitate virtual classrooms and other e-learning measures.
As such, they are calling on service providers to put measures in place to ensure the internet speed is improved.
Moreover, they are also lobbying for more affordable prices especially for students and teachers of low-income families.
President of Starr Computer, Michael Mohan had recently stated that his company is ready to advance virtual education during this period.
He said, “We can solve this problem. Internet service is very expensive in Guyana…but if the Government was to step in to provide subsidies for students, that will make a difference. We at Starr Computers have many different connections with major manufactures… and we have been able to convince them to subsidise the hardware that we carry in Guyana.”