The shadow minister for education said today that an analysis of the SEC exam figures showed a very different picture from the one painted by the government yesterday.

Evarist Bartolo observed that in the statistics issued yesterday by the Ministry of Education, there was no mention of the number of students who were in the final year of secondary school. Nothing was said about how many candidates for the SEC exams had come from post-secondary schools or were independent candidates.

He said that there were 5,261 Form V students in state, church and independent schools in the last scholastic year. Some did not even sit for the exams, and other failed and got grades of six or seven.

It resulted that only about half of the students who had ended secondary school achieved the grades they needed for admission to post-secondary courses.

Mr Bartolo said that in Maltese, only 44% of the candidates passed their Paper A exam, rising to 55% if one included Paper B.

In English, only 45% of candidates passed their Paper A exam. The percentage rose to 57% when one included Paper B.

In Maths, 37% of candidates passed Paper A, the figure rising to 52% with Paper B.

In Computer Studies, there were only 865 candidates, of whom 57% passed Paper A. These constituted only 16% of the total number of Form V students. With the inclusion of Paper B, the figure rose to 21%.

In Physics, 49% of candidates passed Paper A - 40% of Form V students. With Paper B the figure was 51%.

In biology only a third of students set for the exam and 16% passed Paper A, rising to 18% with Paper B.

Mr Bartolo said the results and the examiners' comments should be used for progress to be made in the education sector. The results showed that much remained to be done.

See also

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100714/local/high-pass-rate-in-sec-exams