The Education Ministry has announced the closure of all primary schools designated as examination centres on May 3 and 4, 2023, for the administration of the National Grade Six Assessment.
In a memorandum sent by the Chief Education Officer, Saddam Hussain, it was noted that this closure is applicable for all grades except Grade Six.
“In addition, the closure will also apply to all year groups and grades of those nursery and secondary schools located in the compound of primary schools being used for examination centres. This is necessary to ensure that NGSA 2023 is administered in a conducive environment,” the Ministry penned.
For those schools which will be closed, the respective teachers will not be required to report for duty. However, all Head Teachers must ensure that the schools are opened early to be accessed by invigilators.
Some 15,268 students will be writing the NGSA this year. In a social media announcement, Education Minister Priya Manickchand said that pupils writing NGSA will now have more time to complete their exams. Tested across four core subject areas: Mathematics, English, Science and Social Studies, each exam will last 70 minutes.
The number of examination centres has increased to 517. This means pupils will no longer have to travel far distances to complete their examinations.
The Minister said authorities are aware of the challenges faced by pupils as they were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. To this end, she highlighted that the Ministry has made significant investments in support of learners to prepare them for the upcoming examinations.
Some of these were the distribution of textbooks to all primary school pupils, broadcasting curriculum-centred programmes on the Guyana Learning Channel and YouTube platforms, development of the Quiz Me platform and making NGSA past papers available on the Ministry’s website.
The results from the 2023 sitting of the placement examination are due by July 11, 2023.
