Essequibo’s top NGSA student wants to be President to help the poor

Venisha Lall, the Essequibo girl who tied with another student to take the top spot in this year’s National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) has dreams of attaining the highest office in the land to help poor people.

“I aspire to be an economist.

“I want to be the future President of Guyana to help the poor people,” she said after the results were announced at the National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD).

Lall, 11, attended the C.V Nunes Primary School on the Essequibo Coast. She secured 532 marks out of a possible 536. That’s the same score obtained by Dave Chowtie of Graham’s Hall Primary school.

Lall said she was confident of excelling at the NGSA exam and was elated at her performance.

To study for the exam, she had to give up dancing for a period to concentrate on her studies.

While she did not expect to be placed first in the country, she worked hard to ensure she did well so that it would hopefully move the Education Minister, Nicolette Henry, to visit her school.

Residing in Anna Regina on the Essequibo Coast, she said there needs to be more recognition for the Cinderella county and she hopes her achievement will be an inspiration to others on the Coast.

This sentiment was also shared by her parents.

“Essequibo children don’t normally top the country so I am very, very happy at this moment,” her father said.

“She was always excellent; she has never dropped below 97% and is always active in every activity at school,” Radhika, her mother, told the media.

She encouraged parents to invest time in ensuring that their children’s performance is optimum since teachers alone cannot do all of the work.