Minister of Education Priya Manickchand underscored the importance of education and urged parents to become more involved in their children’s lives, when she met the top ten candidates who sat the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) in Region Five.
At the meeting, held last week at the Karamat Primary School, Mahaicony Creek, Region Five, the minister said government was pleased to see that students from all ten regions had been named among the country’s top achievers. “We are very pleased that we did not see top students only coming from central Georgetown or from a concentrated area from the country. We have every single region securing a place in the top 100 positions in the country,” Minister Manickchand said, according to a GINA press release.
“If you want your children to succeed in life you have to play an active role in their life now…be responsible parents…the Government cannot come into your homes and tell you when you should or should not allow your children to watch television or how much they can watch and how long… this is where responsible parenthood comes in,” she added.
According to Manickchand, the administration aims to ensure that every child is given the opportunity to get an education, and has introduced support programmes such as the school feeding and uniform programmes and distribution of exercise and text books. She noted that it has also taken several steps annually to train more teachers, upgrade educational facilities and acquire new teaching materials.
At the meeting, the minister presented gifts to the region’s top students: Edmon Persaud of Mortice Primary who scored 531; Vevekeanan Ramnarace, 525; Neatra Ramdeem, 523 and Gitanjali Ramdat, 522, all of Novar Primary; Achaica Bowman, 520 and Hosea Nedd and Ariela Webster who scored 515 each, all of Hopetown Primary; Emola Thom 518 and Marissa Arjune 515, both of Cotton Tree Primary and Andrea Lucas, 514, of Rosignol Primary.
