Amid a furore caused by a Linden teacher refusing to promote children he deemed as illiterate, Education Minister Shaik Baksh yesterday declared that the automatic promotion policy which aims to stem school drop-outs will remain in force.
According to a release from the Ministry of Education, Baksh was at the time addressing hundreds of graduands of the Secondary Competency Certificate Programme (SCCP) at Queen’s College. He said that some headteachers, parents and sections of the media are oblivious to the trust of the policy. He promised to hold a press briefing to clarify issues.
The minister pointed out that students who fail their end-of-year examinations should not be punished by making them repeat their class, noting that about 80 per cent of these students then drop out of the school system.
The release noted that the Ministry of Education has instututionalised remediation programmes at Grades Eight and Nine in Mathematics and English during the school year and the August holidays targeting academically weak students. The intention of these programmes, the minister said is to transform low achievers to acceptable secondary school standards.
In defending this policy earlier, Baksh said