The Education Ministry has announced that the dates set for the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) are August 4 and August 5, 2021.
This announcement was made by Education Minister Priya Manickchand during a press conference on Thursday.
She noted that the placement examination would consist of papers one and two. Additionally, she disclosed that some 14,300 Grade Six students will be writing the assessment – an increase over last year, when only 14,032 candidates wrote the exam.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand
Minister Manickchand related that after consultations with teachers and parents, a decision was made to have the exams administered in this format.
“The majority decision was that the preference was to have an exam, people felt that would be the fairest thing to do. Both papers one and two… up to the Grade Five level.”
As such, the Ministry has adapted measures to ensure the safe and effective sitting of the exam. In efforts to set the candidates in exam mode, two sets of mock exams will be administered prior to the final national assessment.
Manickchand explained that in order to guide preparations for the assessment, teachers will be given a consolidated curriculum, which according to the Minister was crafted by international consultants and officials at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD).
“It distils the core skills and competencies appropriate for learners at the Grade Five level. Related concepts were reorganised to allow them to appear together which would make it easier for the students to grasp what is being taught. The consolidated curriculum also helps teachers to understand the boundaries as they prepare learners for the NGSA,” she explained.
Moreover, the minister posited that the curriculum would not contain any new or strange concepts. However, it has been rearranged and reduced to 20 weeks rather than the previous length of 40 weeks.
Further, Manickchand highlighted the Ministry would also provide additional resources for the students.
These include timetabled revision lessons on the Guyana Learning Channel along with worksheets.
She further stated that each Grade Six student attending a public school would receive a care package which will contain past papers and all the requisite textbooks. The textbooks, she noted, will be required to be returned to the Ministry after the students complete their exams.
Meanwhile, the Minister noted that preparations will continue online.
She added that the Ministry would also engage in training sessions with teachers and would work to supervise the teaching and preparation process for this cohort of students.
In addition, she noted that if students were unable sit the exams, the normal procedure of placing them based on the average of the Region would be in effect. (G15)
