Minister of Education, Sonia Parag, has announced that the Ministry of Education has rolled out a number of interventions that are expected to see improvements in the pass rate for Mathematics at both the National Grade Six Assessment Exams (NGSA) and the Caribbean Secondary Examination Council (CSEC) exams.

Speaking during a recent interview, the Minister noted that while the country has been gradually recording increases in the Math pass rate, it is still not satisfactory. She said the issue appears to be regional.

“I believe though that we needed to have stronger intervention in that particular subject area, so we launch the digital school and it also provides lessons for Mathematics, so we ensure that we went into every school and have grades 10 & 11 students sign up for those classes—it was for all subjects but for Mathematics particularly there was a large number of students,” the Minister noted.

The Minister noted that there are a number of short-term measures that were put in place until the broader longer-term plan takes effect.

In the last few months, she noted there was robust training for Mathematics teachers to sharpen their assessment techniques.

The training is expected to become more targeted, and will also include a review of the curriculum at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).

“While we want to improve results overalls, we have to have that laser focus on Mathematics because Mathematics is very important to the future of every economy and Guyana is transforming at a rapid and we are heading into a future whereby technology and digitizing every part of our part country is so important and producing critical thinkers and problems solvers and mathematics is a key component on that,” the Minister noted.

The Minister said while the country has improved with certain interventions, there is still room further improvements.

This year, the Ministry also introduced “Maths Tents,” which is an outreach model that brings together students from multiple schools at one location for focused instruction.

“And what that really is, is that you will have strategic locations not only in the coastal regions but also in the hinterland now with a schedule every Saturday and you will also have communities and students from various schools coming together and being taught,” the Minister explained.

The Minister expressed confidence that the Math pass rate will be turned-around even as she noted that plans are also afoot to improve literacy and numeracy.

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