Holness to create minimum graduation standards

Patrina Pink, Gleaner Writer

EDUCATION MINISTER Andrew Holness yesterday said the Government would be instituting a national school-leaving certificate which would set minimum standards for graduation from secondary schools.

Holness, who was guest speaker at the Alpha Academy graduation ceremony in Kingston, said the new thrust is part of the Government's universal secondary and compulsory education policy, and that it would take into account co-curricular activities, behaviour, and academics.

"Graduation is meaningless if it is merely a school-leaving exercise unattached from the achievements of the students over their five years of education," the minister said.

Speaking at the Alpha graduation, Holness said that the education system had been churning out too many substandard graduates, and the school-leaving certificate would be an objective standard upon which to determine the performance of the students.

"There is concern about the quality of graduates turned out of the system each year ... . The ministry wants to develop a profile of a graduate, and that profile will take into consideration your academic achievement, your co-curricular participation, and behaviour," Holness said.

He said the certificate would also give prospective employers a more rounded look at the performance level of the students.

"Within the next two years, all schools will be required to participate in this national school-leaving certificate in terms of ensuring that they send in data to the Ministry of Education so that the Ministry of Education, not schools, will be able to issue this certification of high-school performance," Holness told the graduates.

Holness said that Ministry of Education data are indicating that though students demonstrate academic merit, they lack several critical skills.

The minister said the future of Jamaica was hanging in the balance and that students were not grounded enough and often used violence as a major means of expression.

"I'm worried that we are turning out of our schools generations and generations of graduates who have not adjusted socially.