The Solomon Islands National Examination Standard Unit (NESU) has confirmed there was a huge number of school drop-outs from form five last year.
NESU director Linda Wate said this was due to the limited number of spaces in the few school that are providing form six classes.
Mrs Wate said only 40 percent of students managed to secure spaces, from the more than 5000 students that sat the exams last year.
She recommended that community high schools should establish boarding facilities to increase the number of spaces.
Mrs Wate added that the results also show the performance of both students and teachers.
“About 3,500 students ended up below the lowest cut-off mark.”
She said through working together strategically and collaboratively with the education ministry, schools, communities and partner organizations, the scenario can be converted.
She said communities in rural areas must work closely with the Ministry of Education and Human Recourse Development (MEHRD) to identify schools in the country that need further development to cater for higher classes.
She added that this year’s results identified another challenge the Ministry needs to address, which is to introduce more form six classes in schools.
By ALFRED PAGEPITU
