Three students cop top spot at NGSA

Jul 08, 2023 News

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By Allyiah Allicock

Kaieteur News – Out of the 15,360 candidates who wrote this year’s National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) examination, it was Glasford Archer of Leonora Primary, Ritisha Gobin of Academy of Excellence, and Anaya Jagnandan of New Guyana School who were named the country’s top performers.

The 2023 NGSA results were on Friday announced by Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand at the Pegasus Suites and Corporate Centre, Kingston, Georgetown.

According to the Minister, Archer, Gobin and Jagnandan, all tied for first place with 506.7 marks and have acquired a space at Queen’s College. It was announced yesterday that this year, the highest possible total score obtainable was 507.7 marks. At last year’s exams, three students had also placed first in the country.

Among the country’s top performers for this year are Savanna McIntosh of Green Acres Primary, Aradhya Ramjag of Mae’s Under 12, Relance Marcus of Green Acres Primary, Samara James and Arianna Samad of Mae’s Under 12 who all copped fourth position. They all attained 505.8 marks and also acquired a space at Queen’s College.

Also given a placement at Queen’s College is Reyad Baksh of Saraswat Primary, Rhea Jaiserrisingh of New Guyana School, Afeerah Ali of Chateau Margot Primary and Jada Pike of Winfer Gardens Primary who all shared the nineth position. They secured 505.7 marks each.

Topping their regions at the exams are Sashana Henry – Region One who acquired 498.1 marks and placed at The Bishops’ High, Avron Joshua Doodnauth – Region Two who acquired 503 marks and placed at Queen’s College, Glasford Archer and Ritisha Gobin topped Region Three, Afeerah Ali – Region Four who acquired 505.7 marks and placed at Queen’s College, Diana Hariprashad – Region Five acquired 502.1 marks and placed at Queen’s College, Annalisa Siriram – Region Six acquired 502.9 marks and placed at Queen’s College, Aresia Cornelius – Region Seven acquired 498.3 marks and placed at The Bishop’s High School, Ken Kyle Mark – Region Eight acquired 489.3 marks and placed at St. Joseph High, Makeda Gwen Johnson – Region Nine acquired 495.4 marks and placed at St. Stanislaus College, and Selah Pearl Erskine – Region 10 acquired 504.8 marks and placed at Queen’s College.

For District 11, Georgetown area, top spot was awarded to Anaya Jagnandan.

This year’s examination was entirely conducted by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC). Candidates were tested in four subjects namely, Mathematics, English, Science and Social Studies. The examination in each subject area consisted of two papers. Paper One consisted of forty multiple choice items while Paper Two consisted of essay type or open-ended items. It was said at yesterday’s ceremony that out of the 15,360 who wrote the exams, approximately 287 were Spanish-speaking candidates. For the first time, the ministry had set the papers in Spanish to cater for those candidates.

Speaking with media operatives yesterday after the results were announced, top performer Glasford Archer said that he feels very happy having secured one of the top spots. He added that he was expecting to be among the top 5o performers in the country.

“I am happy to know that my school is having a rank, it’s finally up there. I was expecting to be in the top 50,” he said.

In preparing for the exams, he said he used to be studying up to 12 in the night, before school and sometime in class when he had the free time. Looking forward to his new school, he hopes to learn new languages and business. Archer mentioned that when he gets older, he wants to become a businessman. Advising pupils who would be sitting the next year exams, he said “They should be very attentive to their school work” and have time to study.

Also copping first place was Jagnandan who too expressed that she was very elated with her results. In getting here, the young girl said she prayed a lot to God “that he would help me.”

In preparation for the NGSA, Jagnandan said she studied a lot, did a number of different quizzes and programmes online to help build her skills. “The exams was not too easy and not too difficult, it’s just like an average exam that you have been preparing for your whole life,” she added.

Topping Region Eight at the exams was Ken Mark, who said he was a little sad to be leaving his family back home but at the same time glad to be representing his region. He noted that getting where he is now was not an easy task. He would sometime help out on his family’s farm and make time for his school work.

“To get the top score for this exam, I had to work very hard, although my family has been struggling a lot, I had to stay up very late at nights trying to study,” he said.

Mark who wants to become a surgeon because he is very interested in health, recalled his mother telling him “You may struggle when you are doing hard work but in the end, it pays off.”

Another pupil, Reyad Baksh told the media that he feels happy and proud with his results. He noted a lot of hard work and dedication was put into his preparation for the exams. According to him, he wants to become an engineer when he gets older, having been inspired by people who are building robotics.

The NGSA results for this year can be accessed via the website http://exams.moeguyana.org.

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• Ministry of Education, NGSA 2023, results, tied for first place, top performer

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