The Alliance For Change (AFC) has expressed discomfort at the visible differences in education outcomes as evidenced by the recent National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) 2024 results and holds the view that there is need to re-align Guyana’s education policy as well as engage in poverty alleviation.
The AFC observed in a release on Wednesday that the high passes in the NGSA 2024 results were concentrated in Region Four compared to the other regions across Guyana, and as such, presents a “window of opportunity” for an optimal redistributive policy intervention in the area of education, to deal with the high probability of a marginalized unskilled population from hinterland and rural areas being unable to access a meaningful share of the economic pie in the fastest growing economy, their homeland.
It was pointed out that a quick analysis of the NGSA results reveal that the majority of the top one per cent (Queen’s College) students attended private schools in Region Four and in Georgetown, versus the public schools and from the other regions, respectively. Further, the data points to an unequal educational gap in the hinterland regions Seven, Eight and Nine, as no student in these regions attainted a place in the top one per cent.