(Barbados Nation) Only four of the top 20 performers in this year’s Common Entrance Examination were from Government primary schools. The other 16 were all from privately-run schools.
That the majority of the children who gained top marks in the critical national examination were from private schools, has raised questions in some quarters about what is happening in Barbados’ public primary school system.
Unlike previous years, this year the list of children with the ten highest examination scores was not released by the Ministry of Education.
Sharing his thoughts on the subject with the DAILY NATION, former chief education officer Ralph Boyce advanced three possible reasons for the absence of more top performers from Government schools.
First he acknowledged that parents who pulled their pockets to pay for their children’s education tended to demand more from those children who also felt obligated to perform to meet their parents’ expectations.
