Over 15,000 pupils receive meals during NGSA this year

The Ministry of Education has distributed over 49,500 meals, including breakfast and lunch, to over 15,000 pupils countrywide who sat the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) between May 2 and 3.

Despite some hiccups during the process, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand deemed the programme a major success.

“When you are dealing with 15,000 kids and a large number of caterers, which are really small businesswomen mostly, and more than 500 locations, you will get some hiccups. I am very happy that the programme was successful, where we had problems, we are reviewing to make sure those never reoccur,” Minister Manickchand stated during a live Facebook broadcast Friday last.

She also highlighted the outstanding turnout for this year’s examination, noting that the attendance clearly shows good management in the education sector, even after COVID-19 wrecked parts of the learning system.

“I am happy to say that with 95 per cent of the attendants registered...We are retaining more children in the system. [And this has] to do with some of our measures,” the Education Minister added. 

Additionally, support was provided for pupils with special education needs and those who were differently abled who wrote the NGSA.

Over the years, the Ministry has implemented many initiatives to curb the learning loss, including launching the literacy and robotics programme in February 2023.

The undertaking has provided intensive remedial intervention to fast-track the learner’s literacy skills, especially their ability to read.

Additionally, the government procured all the necessary textbooks for primary school pupils over the last two years.

The Ministry is working to ensure that every child can read fluently by Grade Four while providing every student with equitable access to education and the tools they need to become innovative and productive.

Meanwhile, the marking process for the NGSA has already begun, and results are expected to be available on or before July 5.

[Extracted and modified from the Department of Public Information]