There has been a significant improvement in the Grade Six results this year, according to Chief Education Officer, Marcel Hutson.
A statement from the Education Ministry follows:
Guyana has every reason to be proud of the 2017 marked performance improvements following the National Grade Six Assessment Examinations which was completed by 13,329 pupils. Chief Education Officer, Marcel Hutson in commending the various stakeholders advised that “this does not mean that we must let our guards down.
“We have to sustain what has worked and is working even after we get as close as possible to the 100% mark,” Hutson said.
Hutson has dubbed the performance of the student who sat the 2017 NGSA in April as Commendable. Commending all stakeholders including the students, parents, teachers and education officers as well as cabinet members Hutson contends that “the results are proof that together we can do the extraordinary and this was made manifest by the results.”
By comparison in 2016, the pass rate was 14% as against 2017 which is a mammoth jump to 46% for mathematics. “This is proof that mathematics can be fun and can only get better,” the CEO lauded. In English, there was a 42 % pass-rate in 2016 as opposed a jump to 54% in 2017. In 2016 there were 28% passes in Science as against compared to an almost double improvement pass rate of 46% for 2017. Social Studies which was always a high-performance subject moved from 46% to 48% this year.
“The overall the performance of the students have greatly improved and in my estimation, I believe that this was as a direct result of the President’s and by extension, his Cabinet’s Emergency Mathematics Intervention done nationwide,” the CEO indicated.
Ministers Rupert Roopnaraine and Nicolette Henry’s one-on- one consultations and group meetings also played a pivotal role in the realisation of these results. Hutson was mandated to produce a plan by Cabinet in October of 2016 that would impact improved students’ performance in the core subject areas. Following that the plan was approved and implemented.
The elements included training of teachers in content and methodology I.e. face to face engagements, developing learning communities where teachers were able to share information and experiences regarding mathematical concepts. “We also had training of administrators and teachers to supervise the mathematics programme and we also recruited monitors and coordinators to ensure that the emergency plan was implemented. This was critical to motivating teachers,” Hutson pointed out.
With respect to Regions 1, 8, 9 and other hinterland regions, a diagnostic was done to determine exactly where those children were at before the implementation of the intervention. Those were given extra attention as they were seriously lagging behind and there have been marked improvements. For instance, in Region 8 where there were zero passes in mathematics, there is now a case of 60 plus passes. There was also a strategic Public Relations and parental involvement component via text blasts and advertisements and such like. Critical was the exposure of the pupils to a series if Mock-examinations which made them comfortable with the strategies that they employed and also comfortable with the examination conditions.
