Berbice PTAs, students reject MOE’s automatic promotion

May 27, 2012 News

The Ministry of Education’s automatic promotion policy, which was implemented two years ago, is being rejected by Berbice Parent-teacher Associations (PTAs) and students, on the premise that it has contributed to poor performances in the classroom.
Even with the policy’s pros of reducing overcrowding in classrooms, reduction of financial woes on the family, and allowing the development of students’ self-esteem, parents and students feel it is destructive.
These views were expressed at a consultation held by the Ministry on Wednesday at the New Amsterdam Secondary School. The consultation led by Education Minister, Priya Manickchand, is the first of a series planned to determine whether the policy will remain, be amended or be discarded.
According to the former Chairman of Berbice High School PTA, the implementation of the automatic promotion policy was a grave injustice to the Ministry. He suggested that in the primary level automatic promotion should be permitted owing to age constraints. However, at the secondary level automatic promotion should be removed and students who fail should repeat the class.
The automatic promotion policy was blamed for students’ lethargic behaviour in the classroom. Cognizant that promotion to the next Grade is a must regardless of performance students have been taking a “free ride” through the system.
Parents pointed out that some students are not even attending the remediation classes. They emphasized that students need to be motivated to enhance their performance. As such, having class repetition hanging over their heads they will be motivated to study and move onto the next Grade.
According to a grandmother, who is a retired teacher, like students, teachers also need to be motivated. The education system should reintroduce performance based incentives for teachers. She explained that previously, depending on the pass rate of a class a teacher would receive an incentive.
Like teachers who need to step-up and be observant of students’ performances hence reducing the failure rate, parents need to be more responsible. The PTAs emphasized that many parents neglect their children. Many parent-teacher conferences are not attended by parents of students who need improvement in studies.
According to the President of the New Amsterdam Secondary School Student Body, from a survey carried out on the morning of the consultation 78 percent of the students present disagree with the policy. Students believe that promotion to another Grade should not be guaranteed but earned.

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Berbice PTAs, students reject MOE’s automatic promotion

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