AT Thursday’s Sitting of the National Assembly, Minister of Culture Youth and Sport and Minister of Education, (ag) Dr Frank Anthony in a written response to Member of Parliament Vanessa Kissoon on her inquiry on the ‘No Child Left Behind Policy’ stated that the Ministry has implemented a ‘non repetition and automatic promotion’ policy because research has shown that repetition does not automatically translate into better performance.

The statement outlines several key notes the Education Ministry has found in its research. These include:-
1. The students at risk for failing would pass some of their subjects but fail others.
2. These students require special attention, they must be identified early, informed early and remedial work done by both teacher and parent.
3. Repetition generally places the burden of underperformance solely on the student and absolves the parents, teachers and school.
4. Teachers sometimes do not complete the curriculum for a given term, so that the examination will cover material that was not taught in school. If the child fails in these circumstances then it is not their fault but that of the system.
5. Repetition is directly linked to drop out rates. Findings in the secondary schools have shown among first repeaters approximately 65 percent would drop out of school and among second repeaters 90 percent would drop out of school. This phenomenon is disproportionally affecting boys.
6. Repetition places a psychological burden on the child that is left behind while their peers move ahead. These repeaters are often labelled as failures.

Those findings have guided the Education Ministry in its decision to adopt a more enlightened approach since 2010. This decision has seen the Ministry replace repetition with systematic and consistent remediation. The policy emphasises early diagnosis and intervention and teachers are expected to consistently measure the competence levels of their students and devise early intervention strategies to prevent problems.
The Ministry has implemented remediation programmes which are done during the July-August vacation and mandatory afterschool sessions in all schools throughout the academic year.
The Ministry has introduced several strategies for both primary and secondary schools whereby early interventions are taken to decrease the probability of failure and teachers are reoriented towards adopting a more student-centered, competency-based approach to education. The latter approach will ensure early detection of problem students and measures would be put in place to prevent them (failure).
Importantly, parent-teacher conferences and consistent performance updates are now required of all schools to inform parents of their children’s performance so any deficiencies could be collectively addressed. No longer should parents be informed at the end of the term that a student has failed; consequently, imminent failure should be recognised, discussed and effectively addressed by all parties involved.
The findings and subsequent steps taken by the Education Ministry are in keeping with a series of consultations focusing on this particular policy (automatic promotion) which commenced in June 2012. These consultations are ongoing and the feedback received will inform the future direction of this policy.
This initiative is one of a number of others implemented by the Education Ministry which are aimed at improving student performance.