Majority of regional top performers secure places at QC

Jul 11, 2016 News

Weeks of anxiety over the 2016 National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) came to an end last Tuesday when the Ministry of Education officially released the results.

It was a very public affair that was broadcast live on television, radio and streamed on the Ministry’s website.

Topping the list this year was a pupil from the privately operated Mae’s Under-12 School. That school in recent times has been the subject of some controversy but was able to defy the odds to have a pupil claim the top spot with 568 marks. But Anthony Ferreira, the Mae’s School top performer, was not the only one claiming the top spot this year.

Attaining an equal score (568) was Aryan Singh of yet another private school – the Dharmic Rama Krishna.

Moreover, there was no second place position but a third position which was secured by Sarena Razak of Graham’s Hall Primary with 565 marks. Fourth position was gained by Chelsea Barnes of Success Elementary with 563 marks. Securing the fifth position was Arun Sooknarine yet another pupil of Dharmic Rama Krishna with 562 marks.

Helia Agard of Success Elementary gained the sixth position with 561 marks. Five pupils shared the seventh position with 560 marks. They are Indie Rampersaud and Justin Seecharan of Success Elementary; Jonathan Ganga of Leonora Primary; Divya Nandalall of Mae’s Under 12 and Lemuel Assing of the New Guyana School.

While these essentially led the national list this year, Chief Education Officer, Olato Sam, also, highlighted those whose performances saw them being named the most outstanding for the respective regions.

While it was Ferreira and Singh understandably leading the way for Georgetown (District 11), the top performer for Region One was Chandy Rodrigues of Santa Rosa Primary with 506 marks. In Region Two the top performers was Yovendra Singh of Suddie Primary who gained 553 marks.

And for Region Three, the top performer was Jonathan Ganga of the Leonora Primary who scored 560 marks. Chelsea Barnes of Success Elementary claimed the top spot for Region Four with 563 marks while it was Sandyah Ramoo of Blairmont Primary who with her score of 534 marks who was named top performer for Region Five.

With his score of 555, Omesh Dyal of Port Mourant Primary was named the top performer for Region Six and it was Romel Smith of St John the Baptist Primary with 526 marks who copped the top place in Region Seven.

Paramakatoi Primary’s Kayla Gomes was named top performer in Region Eight with 511 marks and it was Akimo Demetro of Arapaima Primary, with 536, who was named Region Nine’s top performer. In Region 10 it was Erenilda DeSouza of Regma Primary with 551 marks who claimed the top performer title.

The majority of the top performers are eligible to attend the country’s premier educational institution, Queen’s College (QC).

The Ministry has detailed that the cut off score to attend the country’s sixth form schools this year are: 541 – QC, 531 – The Bishops’ High School, 522 – St. Stanislaus College, 516 – St. Rose’s High, 508 – St. Joseph High and 493 – President’s College.

Minister of Education, Rupert Roopnaraine noted that more must be done to improve the education system. He said, “We are thinking in terms of a reform both in schools and at the Teachers Training College and that is because we want to make a careful assessment of the content of the curriculum and my hope is that the lifting of the education system throughout, it is going to be based on this curriculum review, the recommendations of the (ongoing) Commissioner of Inquiry and the other instrument we are using to make the kind of assessments that we need to bring about the type of reforms that we need.”

According to the Minister, while the performance in English Language and Social Studies this year has been consistent with previous years, this was not the same for Mathematics and Science. Both fell below what was obtained in previous years, he admitted.

He divulged too that the pupils who secured the highest marks in the subject area of English are Annalisa Charles (Leonora Primary); Jordan Nelson (New Guyana School); Marissa Mal (Providence Primary); Latannei Schultz (St Therese Primary) and Bhnaymattie Harnauth (Success Elementary). The best performance in Mathematics was secured by one of the top national performances, Aryan Singh (Dharmic Rama Krishna), who also produced the best performance in Social Studies.

The best science performers in Science this year are Annandi Diaram (Valmiki Vidyalaya); Raoul Nicholls (New Guyana School) and Muhammed Hassad (Al Ghazali Islamic).

The Ministry, according to Minister Roopnaraine, is currently conducting an analysis which is being conducted to ascertain the specific areas in which pupils experienced the greatest difficulty.