The tit for tat between the Education Ministry and the Labour Party over the interpretation of the Matsec O level results continued yesterday as post-secondary students received their A level grades.
The ministry accused Labour's education spokesman Evarist Bartolo of manipulating the results when he gave different figures for pass rates to various subjects based on the number of eligible Form 5 students.
When announcing the pass rates on Wednesday, the ministry made no reference to the number of eligible students who did not bother to sit for any exam and included students who obtained grades 6 and 7, which are valid pass marks for foundation courses.
In its strongly-worded reaction yesterday, the ministry acknowledged that a number of secondary students did not bother to sit for exams.
"Conscious of the fact that a number of students do not sit for exams, the ministry last year launched a reform to smoothen the transition between primary and secondary school to encourage more students to continue studying after secondary school," it said.
The ministry also defended the achievement of students who obtained grades 6 and 7, insisting that, although not all post-secondary courses accepted these grades, there were specialised courses at the Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology, Higher Secondary and the Institute for Tourism Studies, which catered for these students.
Reacting to the ministry's comments, Mr Bartolo reiterated his assessment that just over half of Form 5 students obtained pass marks that enabled them to take up post-secondary studies.
"It is worrying that half of those students who sat for their exams had such low expectations of their performance that they chose to sit for Paper B. It is also very worrying that a large number of students do not even bother to take the Matsec exams," Mr Bartolo said.
The Matsec Paper A is more difficult and students can obtain grades between 1 and 5 while students sitting for Paper B can only achieve grades between 4 and 7.
The ministry said 77 per cent of students who sat for their Matsec A level exams were successful.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com