The Winfer Gardens primary school recorded a 56 per cent pass rate after its pupils sat the 2021 National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), making it the top-performing primary school in Georgetown.
The school’s performance was recognised on Wednesday, during a prize-giving ceremony organised by the Ministry of Education’s Georgetown department.
Further, the school topped in the areas of Science, Social Studies and English. It was only bested in Mathematics by the North Georgetown primary school.
Though the school was celebrated, its performance means just over half of its pupils were able to score grades 50 per cent and higher. It also means that every other school in the district had a lower pass rate.
And Education Minister Priya Manickchand indicated her concern.
“You have children with high 90s in that 56 per cent but we have to change that in all schools.
“56 per cent is not even good,” the Education Minister said.
She, however, acknowledged that during the year of the assessment, the education system and those children confronted numerous challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Information on the Education Ministry’s website, for the same Georgetown district, separated the pass rate by subject area.
Based on that information, there were improvements in children’s performance in English and Social Studies. In those subjects, the pass rates were 74 per cent and 63 per cent respectively.
In Mathematics and Science, however, the numbers declined to their lowest in five years. The pass rate for Mathematics was some 39 per cent while the pass rate for Science was 45 per cent.
On a national level, the pass rate varied slightly by subject. For English, it was 66 per cent; Mathematics, 37 per cent; Science, 40 per cent; and Social Studies, 53 per cent.
Cognisant of these figures, the Education Minister emphasised, “This education system has to be reimagined and has to be transformed.
“We cannot do things the same way.”
