Writing of NGSA slated for 4th and 5th August

Mar 12, 2021 News

– over 14,000 students expected to sit exam

Students sitting the examination last year following COVID-19 protocols

Kaieteur News – During a press conference at the National Centre For Educational Resource Development (NCERD) yesterday, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, announced that the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) will be written on the 4th and 5th of August this year.
Last November, the Education Ministry had declared the postponement of the examination, which is usually written in March/April. The examination was postponed due to the physical closure of schools resulting from the on-going COVID-19 pandemic and the possibility that some students would not be prepared.
Notably, the NGSA, unlike the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), is administered by Guyana so the Education Ministry had the power to postpone the NGSA or decide whether students were going to write it at all.
Further, during the press conference, it was disclosed that some 14,300 students across all ten administrative regions of Guyana will be writing the exam. A mock exam will also be administered before the NGSA to ensure students are ready for the August sitting. The methodology and content of the NGSA will also remain intact according to Manickchand, who stated that a 20-week curriculum has been taken from the regular 40 weeks curriculum that is usually practised.
Manickchand also revealed that students have the option of opting out of the examination, however, that will result in the Ministry having to utilize its placement policy. She said that this will be done using the regional average and following that the child will be placed in a secondary school chosen by the Education Ministry saying that, “We cannot award marks to a child who does not sit the exam.”
Additionally, private educational institutions wishing to have their students write the examination will be given a single educational package from the Ministry and will need to replicate the package and distribute them to their students.
The decision to administer the NGSA came after long consultations with parents, teachers and students.

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