Dear Editor,
As a mother, I write to you with a heart full of pain and a spirit full of hope, for the children of Guyana who are, year after year, subjected to a system that breaks more than it builds.
This National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), which is our renamed Common Entrance exam, is indisputably nothing short of psychological warfare on children as young as nine. We dress them in their uniforms and call it 鈥減lacement,鈥 but what we are really doing is ranking them for life. A single test at age ten/eleven determines their path, and far too often, their worth in the eyes of society.
This cannot continue.
On April 29, 2025, Jellisa Smith said it best in Stabroek News: 鈥淭his approach is not only outdated but also deeply unfair.鈥 She鈥檚 absolutely right. And mothers across Guyana have watched their children wilt under the pressure. They lose sleep, joy, curiosity and their childhood. The exam doesn鈥檛 measure who they are in any way鈥 all it does is measure how well they can cram under immense pressure. It does not test creativity, compassion, problem-solving, or critical thinking. It ignores the many ways a child can shine.
In the April 24, 2025 editorial in the Guyana Business Journal, led by Dr. Terrence Richard Blackman, the call was clear: 鈥淎t this pivotal moment in our nation鈥檚 history鈥 the NGSA must be re-imagined, not merely tweaked.鈥
We cannot reform trauma, we must replace it. We need an education system that builds citizens, not just test-takers. One that develops children who can think critically, work collaboratively, feel empathy, and innovate. If we want a better Guyana, we must raise children who are ready not just for exams, but for life.
The Stabroek News editorial of July 19, 2019 said: 鈥淚t shouldn鈥檛 be the case that at age 9-11, your life chances are made up.鈥 Yet here we are鈥 June 2025鈥 still forcing children to 鈥渁udition鈥 for their future before they even hit adolescence.
Let us not wait for more tears. Let us be bold. Abolish the NGSA! Replace it with holistic, equitable, and continuous assessment. Invest in our teachers, our schools, and our children.
Let them learn. Let them grow. Let them breathe.
(Name and Address Provided)