By Denise Clarke
Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
STUDENTS WHO wish to sit external examinations before their final year of high school are being discouraged by some schools, although the Ministry of Education allows them this option.
Ministry spokesman Edwin Thomas says it is usually left to the school to recommend students for early sittings based on their strengths and weaknesses.
"They say which exams can be done in fourth form, and allow the student to concentrate on other subjects in fifth form. It's a matter of the institution facilitating the individual," Mr. Thomas said.
But The Gleaner found that while some schools were willing to accommodate students wishing to sit early exams, others were against the practice. "We do not offer that (option) to students through this school system. We have very limited requests from students because they know that it is not done here," said Bonito White, principal of the 260-year-old Mannings High School, Westmoreland.
"Students and their parents can make arrangements to do (early) exams at other facilities."
In Clarendon, at Glenmuir High, while the school is not against early sittings, it insists that the students go through the examination twice, no matter the grade achieved in the first sitting.
"Our principle is that students who wish to sit the exams before their time, have the understanding that they will have to resit at the appropriate time regardless of their grade. So if they achieve Grade One in the subjects they sit (in January), they will still have to resit the exam in June," principal Clement Radcliffe told The Gleaner.
Nevertheless, three per cent of Glenmuir's exam pool are either fourth formers, or fifth formers not wishing to wait until June. The school has 220 fifth formers.
The all-girl Montego Bay High School in St. James, tries to steer its students away from early sittings because of the administrative headache.
"At one time we allowed it, but the numbers got too high. We were flooded with requests from students," said vice-principal, Dahlia Robinson.
"It also messes with our record-keeping. When we write a transcript for a student, it will only show the subjects they passed at this school. So if they sat exams before as private candidates, we would not know about (these subjects) so the transcript would not reflect this," Ms. Robinson explained.
But there are several other schools that have no problem with the practice.
"Yes, if the students have the motivation, and the parents can afford it, we will allow them to sit exams before fifth form. In short, we do not discourage it," says Margaret Lee, principal of William Knibb.
At Jamaica College, about 15 students per year take up the option, says Stewart Reeves, headmaster. "We don't promote or discourage it," said Mr. Reeves, adding that students have been requesting to sit exams from as early as third form. "As you can imagine, parents are very active in this (practice)".
