Students in southern harbour area improve their pass rate

Students from state schools in the southern harbour area have improved their Junior Lyceum pass rate, climbing from their position last year on the bottom of the ladder.

A regional breakdown of results shows that just under 58 per cent of students from schools in the southern harbour area - Cospicua, Senglea, Vittoriosa, Valletta, Żabbar, Xgħajra, Fgura, Floriana, Kalkara, Luqa, Marsa, Paola and Tarxien - who sat for the Junior Lyceum exam in May passed, an increase of almost four percentage points over last year's results.

Even if the pass rate for this region is still the second lowest, the increase is only rivalled by a rise in the pass rate registered in the northern district, which went up by just over six percentage points.

Northern district students from schools in Għargħur, Mellieħa, Mġarr, Mosta, Naxxar and St Paul's Bay registered the highest pass rate of almost 78 per cent.

Gozo was the only other region to see the pass rate increase marginally to almost 76 per cent from 74 last year. Three other regions - northern harbour, western and southeastern - registered lower pass rates this year, with the western and south eastern districts seeing significant drops of five and six percentage points respectively.

Educational achievement also seems to be a reflection of the social and economic disparities that exist between the more affluent northwestern regions of Malta and the more depressed southeastern regions.

Although slightly less pronounced than last year, the overall pass rate for schools in the south remained at 60 per cent while that for the northerly schools dropped to 65 per cent.

Of particular significance is the fact that applicants in the northwest increased significantly to 92 per cent from 88 per cent last year, bucking the trend of recent years, which reflected the higher tendency for parents in these localities to send their children to Church or private schools and so not needing to sit for the Junior Lyceum exam.

There were 2,990 students who sweated it out over four exams - English, Maths, Maltese and Religion - after social studies was dropped this year.

The pass rate for boys was 67.5 per cent while that for girls was 66.8 per cent. However, 87 girls obtained four straight As as opposed to 60 boys.

The Education Ministry said this was the last time the Junior Lyceum exam would be held as next year schoolchildren would sit for exams that would establish benchmarks as they progressed seamlessly to secondary school.

The overall pass rate of 67.2 per cent is expected to increase as some students who failed in one exam will be given the chance to re-sit.

From poor language skills to Xwan the Barazwan

Junior Lyceum examiners' reports 2009

Students have to read more and be exposed to the proper oral use of Maltese and English, according to identical recommendations made by examiners analysing last year's Junior Lyceum exam replies.

The separate examiner reports indicated students were less confident in expressing themselves correctly in both languages.

The English chief examiner's report underlined the "extensive use of 'Maltesisms'", while the Maltese chief examiner pointed out that students tended to mix up sentence construction rules in Maltese with their English equivalent.

The Maths chief examiner said workings to complex problems were as important as the result itself.

"This needs to be drilled into students' subconscious as it is important that they realise that although they might give the wrong answer they will still score marks for correct working."

In religion, students were stuck with infantile descriptions such as the meaning of Lent, which many equated with "a time when no sweets are eaten".

"The idea of sacrifice and fasting in preparation for Easter needs to be instilled in students," the chief examiner reported.

Another note of concern was the lack of knowledge about the sacraments and Mass.

On the funnier side, in the social studies exam some students wrote that Indian peace activist Gandhi, actor David Hasselhoff and comedian Hector Bruno led Nazi Germany while Japanese Emperor Hirohito, former Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, singer Marco Masini and Xwan the Barazwan were leaders of Fascist Italy.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com