English proves toughest in Lyceum exam

Candidates for the 2003 Junior Lyceum entry exams did very well in Religion and Social Studies but badly in English, according to figures given in parliament yesterday.

A total of 4,503 children sat the exams. The pass rate was 4,147 in Religion; 3,941 in Social Studies; 3,592 in Maltese; 3,003 in Mathematics and 2,679 in English. Education Minister Louis Galea said 2,415 of the candidates were boys and 2,088 girls. He said a total of 2,486 children passed all five exams.

He said there were 467 state school pupils who did not sit the exams.

The information was requested by Labour MP Carmelo Abela.