Education Ministry not worried about private schools outperforming public schools

Jun 13, 2014 News

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With a significant number of pupils from privately-operated schools coveting places among the top 10 performers, the results of the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) were officially unveiled yesterday.

At a press conference held at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, revealed the identities of the top performers of the respective education districts, which was a precursor for her disclosure of the overall top performer – Jorrel De Santos of the New Guyana School, who secured a total of 533 marks out of a possible 540,
Aliah Mohamed of School of the Nations placed second in the country with 531 marks, while her colleague Analise Samaroo claimed fifth place with her 525 marks.
Of note was the fact that there was only one pupil from a public school named among the top 10 performers, with all, save three, being from schools in Georgetown. Jeremiah Bentham of Winfer Gardens Primary secured 524 marks thereby allowing him to share sixth position with two others – Jeron Boucher of Genesis Early Childhood in Region Three and Krystal Singh of the Success Elementary in Region Four.
Ravi Singh of Westfield Prep in Georgetown placed third in the country with his 530 marks while Isaac Mallampaati’s 527 score saw him securing third place in the country, adding to the outstanding performance of the New Guyana School.
Also securing places in the top 10 were Shania De Groot of Success Elementary who secured 523 along with Rueben Stanley of Mae’s Under-12.
Even as he applauded the performances of all of the 2014 NGSA candidates, Chief Education Officer, Olato Sam, asserted that the general position of the Ministry over the years has been to support the education of all children, both of public and private schools.
“We are not troubled by what emerges now with regards to the Grade Six Assessment results, largely because it is almost to be expected,” Sam noted.
He further vocalised his conviction that “private schools have the wherewithal to do things that our public schools don’t…at the end of the day I think that all of the nation’s children get an opportunity for a sound education, so it is not a public/private kind of conflictual issue for us.”
According to Sam, the desire of the Ministry is to see schools across the board improve with a view to ensuring that all children can benefit.
Expressing her conviction on the matter too, Minister Manickchand said that there are a number of factors that are linked to the performances exhibited by private schools, including the fact that they are able to screen the quality of children they accept.
“Let me say right up front, I congratulate every single school that produced these children who did well…because you heard some names here that topped but you didn’t hear the names of the children who were at a level and then moved to another level; these schools did well and so the private schools ought to be congratulated…their management and their ability to put out results!” stressed Minister Manickchand.
Nevertheless she noted that “there are a couple of things we have to look at as a nation” including the screening principle embraced by some private schools, whereby a child may be denied acceptance based on efforts to measure his/her academic ability. The public school on the other hand accepts every child with their varying abilities, Manickchand noted, adding that “some private schools if you don’t perform over the years they ask you to leave; we don’t do that…we persevere with every single child in the public school system.”
Added to this, the Minister disclosed that the administrations of private schools have the free-will to terminate their staffers if they are believed to be ineffective, in terms of helping to realise laudable results, something that is unlikely in the public schools system.
Further, Minister Manickchand observed that the children who are doing well “are often the children whose parents are with them ‘foot to foot’.” She pointed out that from all indications, private schools have a better partnership with parents in the quest to ensuring their children perform well.
“We have to look at how we can make sure that our public schools do better…” the Minister said, as she insisted that there are schools across the public system that are also doing well too. She is however confident that improvement in the public school system can be realised if accountability issues are more closely addressed.
Minister Manickchand noted that while she is not worried about the existing state of affairs  “I want to see all schools do better, including the private schools; I want see every school get 100 per cent.”

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