THE Leader of Independent group Dr Derek Sikua has reiterated his call during the recent parliament sitting on the Minister of Education and Human Resources development (MEHRD) to seriously consider ridding the Form Seven (F7) secondary stream from its education system as early as 2017.
Dr Sikua said it is an unnecessary burden to the government and the people, and waste of financial resources because the program is not owned by Solomon Islands Government (SIG).
The introduction of F7 in Solomon Islands in the early 1990’s was a pre-requisite by the University of the South Pacific (USP), a point of entry for Solomon Islands students.
Consequently, because of the fact that the MEHRD does not have an officially designed or structured education system in terms of years to end its secondary education, it only allows overseas countries and education institutions to intrude, impose and influence the national system.
“I understand that there is a regional assessment benchmark Pacific Senior Secondary Certificate Examination set by South Pacific Board for Educational Assessment (SPBEA) for all grade 12 or form 6.
“That should act as a pre-requisite and as such, it is totally unnecessary to continue the F7 at the expense of the government.
“The sum total of 13 years in primary and secondary education is too much, in that, the extra year in F7 should have been year one in most regional universities.
“I am appalled in that should other Pacific nations get their students direct entry to universities from grade 12, which is form six, then why is Solomon Islands still wasting its time and resources doing F7 secondary education.
“Ultimately, F7 program belongs to USP, and it supposed not to be incorporated into our education system.
“Hence, the fairest thing to do is to offer F7 program at the USP center in Solomon Islands should it is seen as expensive to host the students at the main campus.
“However, in the event that USP still persist to run the foundation program, it has to meet its associated costs and not the Solomon Islands government.
“Apparently, other universities such as UPNG does not necessary require F7 students as prerequisite for its first year under graduate programs.
“Therefore, I call on the Minister of MEHRD to take heed of this call and abolish the F7 program starting off 2017.
“Finally, I urge the MEHRD to work on a structure to clearly define where our secondary education will end, because living it open- ended will be costly, and thus giving room for other institutions to manipulate our education system.”
Comments will be sought from the Ministry of Education.
