Latest update April 18th, 2025 8:12 AM
‘Great Minds’ initiative expected to boost Region Four’s 2019 NGSA performances
Although this year’s sitting of the National Grade Six Assessment [NGSA] only commenced yesterday, officials attached to the Region Four
Regional Education Officer Tiffany Harvey and Regional Executive Officer Pauline Lucas (seated) are flanked by pupils of the ‘Great Minds’ initiative, teachers and Cadet Officers within the Region Four Department of Education.
Department of Education are convinced that pupils within the district are poised to surpass last year’s performance.
This is in light of the fact that the Education Department, long before examination time, was putting systems in place to ensure that the results this year would be significantly improved from that of 2018.
At least this was the disclosure of Regional Education Officer (REdO), Tiffany Harvey, who revealed that the plans for 2019 started a year ago “when we took the cream of the crop from the 56 primary schools and created a special programme dubbed Great Minds.”
Harvey who told the pupils sitting the NGSA this year she has great expectations because of this very initiative. She revealed that it was birthed by the Ministry of Education and has been overwhelmingly supported and adopted by her education officers. She said that they are proud of what they have been able to achieve thus far, and have challenged the children to push themselves further.
Explaining the workings of the ‘Great Minds’ initiative, Harvey said that it was with enormous support from all the schools in Region Four, that the pupils drawn from East Coast and East Bank of Demerara have been meeting for the past year at weekends and during holidays. These meetings, she said, were held at the BV primary school, where they have been tutored by several teachers working on the project.
The Regional Education Officer said that the Region intends on continuing the project, noting that in the near future it is hoped that this process will begin at the Grade Five.
“We want to ensure that we solidify the programme by giving the pupils a solid two years, instead of the one that was created by the Ministry of Education.
“However, this is the first year, and we are going to review it after the release of the 2019 results because as the REdO, I am very confident that Region Four will do exceptionally well, especially these 27 pupils of the Great Minds project,” a confident Harvey said.
REdO Harvey further stressed that the pupils themselves are eager and have been showing equal commitment as the teachers. For this reason, she described the initiative as being very successful thus far. She added that over the years the focus has been on pupils who are not that strong and who have needed remedial work. However, the pupils who have been known to be “high flyers” have been forgotten as the perception is there that they are ok and will continue to do well.
But according to Harvey, “the Great Minds initiative has helped to remove complacency as the pupils would know that while they are at the top of their respective class or school, there are others who can challenge them, thus forcing them to do better.”
“They would recognise that while they may have it easy at their respective schools, when they are faced with pupils doing equally well or even better than them, they would recognise that there is no room for complacency. As such, they must ensure that their performances remain intact since their performances must be at a certain level if they want to remain at the top,” Harvey said.
The REdO added that the programme will continue to challenge the pupils to increase in terms of their performances, while at the same time motivating them to continue studying and/or doing exceptionally well.
Stephanie Datta, who is a pupil of the Enmore Hope Primary School who was part of the programme and is now an NGSA candidate, said that while she is excited, she is somewhat nervous and fearful. She, however, said that she is very thankful for the support and assistance given by the teachers. The 2019 NGSA candidate yesterday urged her colleagues to remain focused and be determined to do their best.
Meanwhile, Videsh Dowulatram, who attends the Mon Repos Primary School, boldly said that his school will do well, even as he admitted to being very eager and excited to complete the two-day exams.
The REdO yesterday visited several schools where she sought to encourage and motivate the NGSA candidates.
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