Last week the results of the National Grade Six Assessment in standardised format were announced. They left the public a little bemused since it meant that twenty pupils tied for the top place, a highly unlikely outcome had only the raw marks been taken into account. Minister Sonia Parag described the results as the best “ever … recorded in our country’s history,” although she went on to issue a caution about standardised scores, which are the product of a statistical process to which the raw marks are subjected.
The purpose of standardised scores, in the words of the Minister, is “to provide a fair comparison of candidates within the same year, ensuring that every child is assessed equitably.” Nevertheless, she also emphasized that it was “very important that they should not be compared with the standardized scores from previous years because they are calculated using the performance of the candidates who wrote the examination this year.”
The Minister did not offer any clarification of how it was that if one couldn’t compare standardised scores across different years it could nevertheless be asserted that there had been improvements in all four subject areas compared with the past. Were they working with the raw marks in order to make this statement? Parents, teachers and others would appreciate it if there could be some elucidation about the basis on which the comparison was made.
Whatever it was, the public was told that in Mathematics, for example, 59.8 per cent of candidates secured 50 per cent or more, representing the highest national performance recorded in the subject. Of the four subjects English Language accounted for the highest overall performance, with the number of candidates obtaining 50 per cent and above increasing from 69.25 per cent in 2025 to 73.08 per cent in 2026.
Social Studies and Science too showed an upward trend with 64.77 per cent of candidates in the first of these gaining 50 per cent and over in 2025 to 65.28 per cent this year. In the case of Science those securing 50 per cent and over represented 65.8 per cent in comparison with 63.70 per cent last year.
If this year’s results represent a real increase from previous years not calculated by comparing standardised scores, then they are certainly impressive. CXC Director of Operations Dr Nicole Manning said the gains reflected the impact of the interventions being implemented in the education system. “Whatever the interventions that you are doing, you are having impact,” she was quoted as saying.
One general point made was in relation to the fact that female candidates continued to outperform males in English, with females earning 70.38 per cent while males secured 61.03 per cent. That notwithstanding there were, said Dr Manning, notable improvements in the performance of male as well as female candidates between 2022 and 2026.
Minister Parag with justification exhorted parents not to judge pupils solely by their examination results or secondary school placements. It might be remarked that some children are late developers, some have talents not related to what is being tested at age eleven, some are poor examinees, some did not receive adequate teaching, etc.
However, she went on to say, “Success is not reserved for one school or another.” It might not be “reserved”, but schools will vary in their capacity to bring children up to the standard required to perform creditably at NGSA. But as has become the norm, the public was not told any details about the performance of schools or regions, which would give some indication of where the much-vaunted interventions were not having an impact, or whether school conditions in general required particular attention from the Ministry of Education.
From an analysis of the Ministry’s top performers this media outlet was able to glean a little information on what schools achieved. What can be said is that strong performances were reflected by both public and private schools in various parts of the country. We reported that among the top performers were pupils from schools in Regions Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and Ten.
Conspicuously absent from this list were schools from Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine. As will be obvious these are hinterland areas with largely Amerindian populations. In the days when we were given regional breakdowns of results, interior regions with their multiple challenges from an educational point of view, mostly performed poorly. Are we to infer that things haven’t changed much, and that the Ministry of Education still has not managed to address the difficulties?
Perhaps typical of these was the story of St Cuthbert’s, which is an Amerindian village but which hardly could be described as being located far in the interior. On the same day the results appeared, there was also a report on WIN’s findings in the village, which described the living quarters for both primary and secondary school teachers as being no longer habitable. As a consequence teachers requiring accommodation could no longer stay there. Various other concerns about educational facilities were also recorded.
If that were not enough a release from the party said that normally electricity is only available for approximately four hours each day, which is hardly enough to meet the requirements of a range of institutions, but also significantly, schools. However, for the past month the community has been without electricity altogether.
If that is St Cuthbert’s, what about more inaccessible villages? During the teachers’ strike all kinds of complaints were received by the media about the living conditions for teachers, among a number of other issues. Do the Indigenous areas now have the number of trained teachers which they need, access to past assessment papers, books and the various things which a school requires to function? Has the Ministry addressed its attention to all the challenges involved in delivering quality primary education in these locations? And will the Ministry tell us just how well Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine performed in the NGSA?
There has been little in the media recently about extra lessons, but it has to be asked whether they still play a role in children’s learning habits, and whether in coastal areas, at least, they played a part in the results.
Finally, Minister Parag took the opportunity to announce that the Guyana Digital School from September will provide students with free online access to the full primary and secondary curriculum from Grades One to Eleven. It might be observed that it will only be available to those with access to computers and most important, electricity. Where there is a problem with these she could always just print it and then distribute it to schools for students, not to mention teachers, to consult.
Discussion