Overall percentages of grades have dropped

Dubai: Although the results for the second term finals were outstanding, the overall grade percentage for this year was lower than that of former years, said school principals.

In an earlier report, pupils were ecstatic about the their second term exams but expressed their fear of not meeting the passing grade or their expected average since the results of the first term lowered these chances.

In an interview with principals and pupils yesterday following the announcement of government based curriculum results, they said their fears were in place.

Ameenah Eisa, a grade 12 pupil at Al Madeena Al Monawra Secondary school for girls said that her finals were "very easy, but my results in the first term did not add up to the average I wanted but its all good. After all we went through the challenges of a new system."

The Ministry of Education recently modified the examination system for grade 12 pupils at public schools to impart and assess other skills such as writing reports and research papers, as well as undertaking projects.

The decade-long structure of final examination was changed into a two-term based examination to ease the pressure on students.

The earlier structure required pupils to take exams at the end of the academic year on the entire curriculum for each subject.

"A significant number of my pupils did not pass the new Comprehensive Educational Proficiency Assessment (CEPA) which affected their overall percentage. Add to that the high percentage of failure in the first term. Although they did very well in the second term, the percentage of pupils passing was lower this year" said Entisar Eisa, principal of Mariah Al Qubtia secondary school for girls.

The raising of the passing grade from 40 to 60 per cent was among the reasons for the drop in the passing grades, she said.

A distressed student, Doa'a Mahmoud, blamed her "teachers for not meeting her expected average." She said she didn't benefit much from her other teachers teaching the elements of report writing.

"There was a rush in introducing the new system, which was supposed to be gradually implemented since our pupils are not accustomed to doing reports and written assignments," said Ameenah.