Omar Anderson, Freelance Writer
A NUMBER of fifth form students in high schools will not be able to take up Government's offer to pay for four of their CXC subjects.
Several schools have stuck to their usual stance and have either refused to, or will refuse to allow students with poor performance to sit these exams.
A month ago, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, in a swift counter to the free education promised by Opposition Leader Edward Seaga in his election campaign, said the Government will be paying for some of the CXC subjects that high school students will be sitting come next June. Students and parents met the announcement with glee and the expectation was that there would be an abundance of entrants for the exams.
The subjects the Prime Mi-nister said his Government would underwrite are mathematics, English language, infor-mation technology (IT), and a science subject. Mr. Patterson said public candidates would still be expected to pay their entrance fee of $947. Each CXC subject costs $878. Registration for sitting CXC next June was opened on October 1, and will close on November 14 for public schools.
The Government will pay $30 million this year for this exercise but it is unclear whether it is to be extended in the future.
However, The Sunday Gleaner's contact with several schools last week revealed that the expectation of large numbers of students sitting exams was merely an illusion.
"You have to be recommended whether Government is paying or not," said Helen Douglas, vice principal of Kingston College (KC). "If a child (student) hasn't done his School-Based Assessment (SBA) and his laboratory assignments, it doesn't make sense sending him up to sit the exam."
Ms. Douglas added that some 251 KC students have been registered to sit CXC maths and English language next June, a figure which she said reflected the average number in recent years.
The situation was basically the same at Clarendon College where principal Stanhope Porteous told The Sunday Gleaner that there'll be no unconditional free ride on the CXC train. He said the school is conducting its usual internal exams to determine which students are recommended to sit the subjects.
"It's not really a free-for-all," he said. "We register students who are qualified for the particular subjects. So, although fifth formers mostly do mathematics, history, and English, at some time, if they didn't get a satisfactory grade, we wouldn't send them to sit the exam."
At Wolmer's Girls, principal Pamela Harrison said it is mandatory for students to sit maths and English language, but that teachers would, however, be required to assess students sitting other subjects before they are recommended at the end of fourth form.
"I don't think the freeness makes any difference," she said. "Once students reach a certain level at fifth form, it's very odd for them not to sit their exams."
A highly-placed source at the Overseas Examination Office (OEO), confirmed last week that students will not be automatically selected to sit CXCs in wake of the Government's offer.
"You have to have an SBA to sit IT, and there is no alternative for the SBA in June," said the source. "In most schools, there is a screening and candidates are recommended to sit subjects based on their performance."
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education said last week it was not averse to the stance being taken by school administrators.
"The schools must be given opportunity to endorse the performance of their students," said Edwin Thomas, the Ministry's information officer. "The whole question of readiness is a matter for schools to decide; the Ministry cannot do that."
Mr. Thomas said the Government will be honouring its promise as evidence by the number of students who have already been registering with their schools.
"The matter of should we give students a chance to sit the exam whether they are ready is a question for which I don't have an answer. But any sensible Ministry of Education would give some weight to what those preparing the students think," he said.
