IT is my belief that the Ministry of Education has implemented a humane policy in advocating automatic promotion in our schools.
In the learning situation, we are aware that the focus is on the child. Let us view the possible impact of retention of a child in a class. 1. For life the child will be aware that he was treated punitively on the basis of his performance level. The school and home environment as well as the economic status are some areas that could have led to the child’s performance not reaching the required standard.
2. The child may be classified as a failure, a most painful experience.
3. It may be difficult for the child to adjust to a classroom context where he is forced to work with his juniors while those with whom he was, have progressed to a higher class.
4. It is my belief that automatic promotion related to strategies to cater for deficits can be better implemented in a situation where the child who failed has the continued companionship and support of those with which he has been interacting consistently. In addition, he must not at such a tender age suffer the degradation of the consequence of failure.