Minister Reddy reveals exam statistics for various districts

Minister for Education, Heritage and Arts, Mahendra Reddy has challenged all primary school head teachers to target a 100 per cent pass rate in external exams.

“By now, you all should know where your school stands in terms of the external examination results of 2015 and last year.

“You should have already developed specific strategies to improve these results,” he said.

Speaking at the opening of the Fiji Head Teachers Association Annual Conference at Girmit Centre in Lautoka yesterday, Mr Reddy said: “If we look at the overall per cent pass rate at Year Six level, it is still below 50 per cent.

“We need to reflect on the reasons for this. Also, our Year Eight results have gone down from 70 per cent to 65 per cent.

“There is a serious need to relook at our immediate strategies and monitoring procedures in place,” he said.

Mr Reddy said the performance of students in the major subjects at Year Six and Year Eight levels, performance in some subjects is a matter of concern, especially at Year Six level.

“There is a need to urgently reflect on our current strategies and measures in place.

“We need to strengthen the literacy and numeracy skills amongst our students as primary education is the foundation for that.”

The minister said they noted there was a marked improvement in the Fiji Year Six Examination results in 2016 in all the districts for schools above the 50 per cent pass rate. However, he also said there was decline in the percentage of schools above 50 per cent pass rate in Year Eight Examination from 2015 to 2016.

“At Year Six level, the best performing district in terms of 2016 results is the Macuata/Bua while at Year Eight level, Lautoka/Nadi/Yasawa stands with the highest per cent of schools above 50 per cent pass rate.

“Some schools are showing this dedication and their results are glowing. For example, if we look at the per cent pass rate of individual schools, for Year Six the number of schools achieving a 100 per cent pass rate increased from 16 to 31 schools.

“Similarly, at Year Eight level in 2015 only 13 schools achieved a 100 per cent pass rate while in 2016, 46 schools achieved a 100 per cent pass rate. These figures are still less in comparison to the 736 primary schools we have,” he said.

Edited by Jonathan Bryce

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