PHILIPSBURG--Unlike in Curaçao, the stricter final examinations requirements for HAVO/VWO required by The Netherlands will be in effect at Milton Peters College (MPC) this year. The new passing requirements call for exam students to achieve an average mark of at least 5.5 for each subject.
The current system makes it possible for a final examination student who underperformed at the central exams to pass nevertheless, thanks to the usually-better results of the school-based exams held during the course of the school year.
For example, a student can achieve a "7" for a subject in the school-based exam, then get a "4" for the same subject for the final exam and still pass when those two marks are combined and divided. With the new requirements, students have to pass outright with a minimum 5.5 for the final exam.
Parents in Curaçao and the directorate of Omega College in Curaçao had protested the new rules, stating that the school needed more time to prepare the students, considering that achieving a 5.5 for every subject could be a tall task for the majority of students.
In fact, due to the stricter rules, The Netherlands is expecting the number of non-passing students this year to increase by 10 to 15 per cent.
Judging from last year's exam results in St. Maarten, when only 55 per cent of the students passed, a 10 to 15 per cent swing could result in bleak results at the islands largest secondary school, where students have posted disappointing results the last two years. The results also will affect directly the number of scholarships that ultimately will be awarded.
The requirements are not new, having been implemented by the Dutch some three years ago. At the time, former education minister for the Netherlands Antilles Omayra Leeflang had requested and received a two-year deferral of the requirements for the Netherlands Antilles.
The measure was meant to ensure that the HAVO/VWO diplomas are readily acceptable by HBO and university institutions in The Netherlands, which also have their own admittance requirements.
School Board for Secondary Education head Joseph Rogers confirmed that the implementation of the requirement was included in the booklet that outlines rules, regulations and passing norms, which all parents of exam candidates received at the beginning of the school year. How exactly MPC went about preparing its students for this new reality could not be ascertained up to press time on Tuesday.
Students at MPC currently are writing their final exams.
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