Dear Editor,
I am appealing to the Ministry of Education to give an explanation to the parents of students who were not allowed to write Mathematics at the last CSEC (school name provided).
The reason given was that the students were not qualified to write the subject. These very unfit students wrote other subjects and were said to have done well.
Why was this decision allowed, thereby affecting the students in numerous ways? At least two of the group will be migrating and entering schools overseas, and it is disturbing to think that not writing Mathematics could affect their enrolment and streaming.
I had the experience some 20 odd years ago when my son together with some other teachers were trying to convince the principal to allow him to enter a particular stream, even though he, for unforeseen reasons, did not qualify.
The decision then caused the boy to be a school drop-out because he was forced to do subjects he disliked.
With parents having to pay examinations fees very soon I hope money will not be returned to them for subjects their children are deemed not qualified to write, as happened in this last instance.
Yours faithfully,
M Sookraj
