Private learning institutions have once again outperformed government-run schools at the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA). So much so, none of the top 10 performers who secured places at Queen’s College were drawn from public schools.
This year’s top performer, Alisha Scheller with 503.34 marks, hails from Success Elementary, a private institution. Kaiya Daniels, with 503.27, comes from Green Acres Primary. Lucas Spooner, with 502.44 marks, is a student of Mae’s Under 12 Primary. The number three to 10 positions were also copped by students from the following private schools, Mae’s Under 12, Marian Academy, Academy of Excellence, and the Canadian School of Arts and Science.
In fact, of the entire list of top 50 performers, less than 15 students came from government schools, including Huist Dieren Primary, Zeelugt Primary, Leonora Primary, St. Margaret’s Primary, Cumberland Primary, Grove Primary and Christiansburg Primary. This translates to about 70 per cent of the top 50 coming from private institutions alone.
This glaring comparison is made against the backdrop of the recently concluded 70-day teachers’ strike that occurred within the public school system during the NGSA preparatory phase. Concerns about public school students’ performance were raised continuously during this strike period. It is still unclear whether the strike is responsible for the disparity in performance.
Nevertheless, Minister of Education Priya Manickchand said today that she is satisfied with the overall performance of students from both private and public schools. She hastened to add that the government’s mammoth-sized spending on education is a factor of the success, although most of the initiatives targeted public schools. These include, provision of textbooks, the breakfast programmes, more trained teachers, and resources for distance learning like the Learning Channel, [http://EdYou.FM](http://EdYou.FM “smartCard-inline”) , worksheets, websites, and the ‘Quiz Me’ platform.
A glance of previous years shows very little difference in performance. Private Schools also dominated the top 10 positions for the last three years since emerging from the pandemic.
In 2023, of the 12 students who secured the top 10 positions, nine alone came from private schools. In 2022, three students tied for the top spot, four for fourth, four for seventh and five for tenth. Overall, in the list of 16 students who secured the top 10 spots, 10 came from private institutions.
In 2021, the top position went to a student of the privately run Success Elementary. That year, two students shared second place, with six sharing fifth. In total, only three came from public schools.
