‘Let’s uplift, not pressure our children; equity in education is the goal’ – Pres. Ali

In his message of congratulations to all the students who wrote this year’s National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), President Dr Irfaan Ali encouraged stakeholders to celebrate each child’s accomplishments, reminding that they are still young and they have their whole lives ahead of them.

In his message, the president further assured that no matter their placements, his government is working to ensure equity in education across the country.

“At 11 and 12, I implore you, not to pressure our children into believing that this is the most defining moment in their lives. These are young kids, these are kids still blooming…it is at this moment that together, we have to reassure all of our children, those who did exceptionally well and those who may not have done as well as they have liked, it is at this moment we must reassure them,” the president said in a video message today.

“We must congratulate all of our children, especially those who did exceptionally well and those who might have been disappointed or those who might have wanted to be somewhere else, you have so much time ahead of you,” he assured.

In fact, President Ali explained that regardless of their secondary school placement, the government is working to ensure equity in education across the country.

He said, “we as a government are going to invest to ensure that the quality of education at the best school in your head is the same quality that is at every school across our country. So, you can have access to the same labs, the same technical education, the same quality of teaching, the same quality of learning material so that this journey would be supported by policies and initiatives that give you that level of equity.”

This year, Guyana recorded its best overall performance, with the pass rate moving from 49% in 2024 to 63% in 2025.

This year’s top performing NGSA student is Tanasha Destiny Hope Myers of the Academy of Excellence who achieved a perfect score of 487.88 marks.

According to the Education Minister, Priya Manickchand, this has only happened once before in 2018 with then top student Nalia Rahaman scoring a perfect 529 marks.

A total of 15,497 pupils wrote this year’s NGSA.