Dropout rate for boys alarming

MORE boys are successful at the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA) examination, but less are graduating from secondary schools and/or successfully writing CXC examinations after the expected five years.

Education Minister, Anthony Boatswain, said that more boys are lost somewhere between forms two and three due to “deviant behaviour”.

“The boys are dropping out of secondary schools at a faster rate than girls and so we have a situation where more girls are pursing further education than boys,” Boatswain told the Parliament last Friday.

In his ministerial statement, the Education Minister said that the solution to this problem is not just one for the Government, but one that will involve the partnership with parents and the wider community.

“We are losing too much of our boys on the road. We need to encourage them, we need to take action to ensure that they reach the end of the secondary school journey and continue on,” he said.

He also informed the Parliament that not all the children who will be sitting the upcoming CPEA entrance examination will be placed in a secondary school.

“There is no guarantee that all those who take the examination will be placed in a secondary school,” he said, while explaining that parents should understand that there are some children whose assessment will indicate that they are not fully prepared to embark on that journey.

“It’s for this reason that in 2013 we kept back 40 children. This year, they are ready and will move on to a secondary school,” he assured the House.

Hundreds of grade six primary school students will today, Friday, May 16, sit the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment. Those who are successful will commence their secondary school life from September 2014. (LS)