Thirty-eight students shared the top scores in this year’s National Grade Six Assessment, Education Minister Priya Manickchand said in a surprise announcement at Parliament yesterday and APNU MP Amna Ally later expressed concern at the decline of good performances from public schools.
Topping the list are Michael Bhopaul of Graham’s Hall Primary and Ramesh Ghir of Mae’s Under 12. They both scored 547 marks out of a possible 563.
Speaker Raphael Trotman informed the House that Manickchand wanted to make an announcement that was of national importance – the results of the Grade Six Exams. He called the move “something new and different”.
Manickchand, in a short statement before reading the results, said that 17,138 candidates were entered into this third and final assessment. These candidates, she ex-plained also wrote the National Grade Two Assess-ment in 2008 and National Grade Four Assessment in 2010.
The results that were being released, she said were the candidates’ overall performance at the three assessments. The minister said more details will be provided at a press conference today.
Amidst applause from MPs, the minister read out the list of 38 students.
Rawletta Barrow of Success Elementary gained the third position with 546 marks, while Angel Moonilall of Success Elementary and Talicia Sukhraj from Mae’s Under 12 shared the fourth position with 543 marks.
The sixth position was shared by Ashandai Liverpool of Tucville Primary and Roshawn Cummings of Success Elementary with 542 marks. The eighth position was shared by four candidates: Isaiah Carter of Success Elementary, Ria Khan of Success Elementary, Anthony Singh of Success Elementary and Surendra Gocool of Kawall Primary with 541 marks each.
The twelfth position was shared by Reanna Khan of Success Elementary, Farah Chin of Marian Academy and Alyssa Nurse of Mae’s Under 12. They each scored 540 marks.
Leonardo Gobin of Patentia Primary, Naareeshta Maraj of Dharmic Rama Krishna and Sarah Garrido of Green Acres Primary gained the 15th spot with 539 marks.
In the eighteenth position were Onecia Adams of Green Acres Primary; Joshua Mortley and Reuel Sugdeo of Success Elementary and Latonya Darrell of New Guyana School with 538.
Sydney Fraser of New Guyana School, Jeevan Dalip and Alyssa Baksh of Mae’s Under 12, Cheri Frank of School of the Nations, Brandon Samaroo and Samathra Scott of Success Elementary, Anopa Ramdial of Zeelugt Primary, Atiqah Roshandin of Academy of Excellence, Kimberly Prashad of Taymouth Manor Primary and Jelena Arjune of Green Acres Primary tied for the 22nd spot having gained 537 marks.
Gaining 536 marks for the 32nd spot were Fidel Da Silva of Green Acres Primary, Michael Persaud of ABC Academy, Keron Smith and Adiaha Gomes of Success Elementary, Johnette Facey and Vishal Jack of Mae’s Under 12.
The minister stated that 271 students from schools in regions one, two, five, six, seven, nine and ten are eligible for entry into President’s College.
Meanwhile Ally, the shadow Education Minister while congratulating the 38 high-fliers noted that most of the good performances came from private schools such as Success Elementary and Mae’s, while “you will note that just a few came from a few public schools”.
The list included 13 students from Success; 7 from Mae’s; 4 from Green Acres and 2 from New Guyana School and one each from a few other private schools, while public schools such as Graham’s Hall, Kawall, Patentia, Providence, Zeelugt and Taymouth Manor Primary only managed to muster one each.
“This concerns me a lot. We need to examine why the children in the private schools are performing better than those in the public schools. We need to examine all the reasons, we need to examine whether the facilities are the same, the teachers…,” she stressed.
