NGSA 2019 begins, results expected to surpass previous years – Edu. Minister

Primary school students across Guyana on Wednesday started the annual two days National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA).

Thousands of anxious students sat the English Language and Science examinations and will finish with Mathematics and Social Studies on Thursday.

Minister of Education Nicolette Henry along with the Chief Education Officer Marcel Hutson visited students from Ketley, St. Stephen’s and St. Gabriel’s primary schools Wednesday to encourage them to do their best.

Minister Henry told the Ketley Primary exam students, “I trust that I will have the opportunity to come back after you would have gotten your results…I like to know that all of you are well prepared.”

The NGSA, also known as ‘Common Entrance’, signifies the end of the primary education and the beginning of secondary education.

“When you put in hard work, you expect to get good result so this given the volume of work we would have put into this National Grade Six Examinations, it is my expectation that results will surpass all previous years so I am looking forward to really good results this year,” Minister Henry said.

The Minister’s advice to the students was to ensure they read their exam questions properly before attempting to answer; she also told them to relax.

“It’s really important for me to come to the schools to see how relaxed and prepared the students are and to give them words of encouragement, this is something that I have done for the past years that I have been a Minister of Education and something that I intend to continue,” the Minister said.

Meanwhile, the Chief Education Officer said, “We had a number of training sessions for our teachers across the different subject areas, we’ve had revision programmes for our children, we’ve also had a series of mock exams.”

Parents were seen walking their children to schools and also encouraging them to do well.