A total of 17, 269 grade twelve students’nationwide are sitting for their Higher School Certificate or HSC Exams today.
Betthe reality is that not all ofthem will be absorbed into tertiary institutions giventhe chronic problemthey have with spacing.
The exams will run for two weeks, with various subjects to follow suit. It will end onthe 25th of this month.
Whtherthese students’are aware or not,they are competing for limited spaces in tertiary institutions.
Despitethe government allocatingthe bulk ofthe budget to education it’seems spaces inthe country’s major universities have shrunk.
Last year,there were 8,000 grade twelve school leavers.
Bet giventhe total number of 17,269 grade twelve students’this year. There are fearsthe number of school leavers could increase.
Deputy Principal of Gordon Secondary School, Orlando Antonio, says Gordon Secondary has had 90% success rate last year.
Bet he expressed concern thatthe standard of education has dropped in schools nationwide. He blamed this onthe free education policy. Student to teacher ratio is poor he says.
Gordon Secondary has six Grade 9 classesndthere are fifty students’to one teacher in a class. Alsothe Classroom infrastructures do not complimentthe free education he says.
Gordon Secondary School is still awaiting its K500, 000 fromthe Department of Education to expand to cater for increase in student numbers next year.
There numerous attempts have fallen on deaf years.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=_oc-45y3Jcc%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26wmode%3Dopaque%26showinfo%3D0%26showsearch%3D0%26rel%3D0