Following the announcement of the results of the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), Education Minister Dr Rupert Roopnaraine and Chief Education Officer Olato Sam immediately began facing questions about the disparity in the performances of private and public schools.
In the last few years, there has been an upsurge in the number of private schools in Guyana and with this upsurge there also seems to be a developing trend of private schools “outstripping” public schools at the NGSA.
This year, 12 private schools account for 95 (57%) of the 166 students who make up the top 1%. The remaining 71 students (43%) hail from 36 schools in the public school system.
Success Elementary, which copped the highest number of places, a whopping 25 (16%) including the top two places, was unmatched and not just by any one public school. This private school was able to attain more places than the top four public schools combined. Together St Gabriel’s, St Margaret’s, Stella Maris and Leonora primary schools only gained 23 places in the top 1%.
Responding to concerns about this continuing trend, Roopnaraine said an “attempt to create a dichotomy or even a sense of rivalry” between the public and private school system is unnecessary.
“Our position at the ministry is that these are all our children and we do not need to get into a debate about the public/private schools,” he told media operatives gathered at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD).
Even as he stressed that “Private schools use the public school curriculum and teachers trained in the public system,” Sam admitted that “public schools can’t employ some of the approaches that private schools do.”
He declined to identify these approaches when questioned.
Anyone examining the students’ responses, however, would notice in their effusive expression of gratitude to their teachers, some of whom were familiar names.
The top two students along with 23 other successful candidates hail from Success Elementary, which is owned by Wilfred Success, formerly of West Ruimveldt Primary. Success first came to the notice of the public while at West Ruimveldt, when six of his students achieved places in the National Top 10. Since then, he has continued to produce top performers both in the public school system and since 2011 in the private school system.
The children of the New Guyana School are full of praise for the sage advice and training they received from Ms Shirley Green. A mature veteran of the public school system who has decades of experience producing top performers, Green started this winning streak at St Margaret’s Primary in Georgetown and after her retirement continued her grooming at New Guyana.
Latchmin Gopaul, founder of the Academy of Excellence is also expert in the field of producing top students. A former teacher of Leonora Primary, she proudly reminded Stabroek News that she has a “track record for producing top students since 1997.”
Her school, which has produced a top student every year since its establishment, this year copped the seventh, eighth and ninth positions in the top ten and earned a total of 12 places in the top 1%.
This examination would appear to support the claims by the CEO that the resources used by the private school are similar to those of the public schools.
However, since the minister is convinced that the work of the Education Ministry “is by far the most important work that there is to be done in Guyana” there must be direct efforts made to understand the methods used by the teachers who have consistently produced top students so that the universal primary education being offered within Guyana is universal quality education.
Education professionals have suggested that this can be achieved by a reintroduction of systems which allow for junior teachers to work as teacher assistants to more senior teachers, thereby learning from their experience.
Recent recipient of the Medal of Service in the area of education Patricia David, expressed the view that several retired teachers are willing to be part of the system, on a voluntary basis even, in some cases, to allow for appropriate transfer of knowledge and continuity of methods.
There also must be, as the minister noted, efforts to provide our teachers in the public school system with the best facilities and ample reward so that the level of teaching, counselling and all other dimensions of our schools system is raised.
