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Friday, November 11, 2011

School head: Quality of English poor

By SALLY POKITON UPNG journalism student

A SCHOOL principal says the poor standard of English used by students during the Grade 12 examinations should be a concern to everyone, The National reports.
Jubilee Catholic Secondary School principal Bernadette Ove describes the quality of English on the Grade 12 answer sheets throughout the country as very poor.
She made the comment during the school’s Grade 12 graduation ceremony yesterday.
Ove said the quality and standard of written and spoken English had drastically dropped in the country, with very poor English written by students on the examination answer sheets.
And she said the extensive use of mobile phones by students was partly to blame for the drop in the quality of English.
She said the kind of language they used in sending text messages on the mobile phones was affecting the way they write in school.
She said the kind of language young people used on cell phones was very poor and that was portrayed in their writing during exams.
 “The quality of English used made it extremely hard for the teacher markers to understand,” said Ove.
Ove told students that English was an universal language and that the type of English they used would reflect on the kind of marks they would get at the end.
Marking of the country’s OBE pioneer Grade 12 examination papers is taking place at the Grandville motel and is expected to finish today.
Meanwhile, NCD Governor Powes Parkop said the free education policy would see overcrowding in some schools in the country.
He was addressing students at the Jubilee Catholic Secondary School’s Grade 12 graduation ceremony at the Don Bosco Technical Institute.
Powes urged the students to enhance the skills and knowledge they had learnt in their 12 years of education to become professionals and contribute to nation-building even if they did not make it to university level.
He challenged the 139 graduates to be entrepreneurs and wealth creators in the work force by creating employment for themselves and not merely employees and beneficiaries of the public and private sectors.

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