Prime Minister Perry Christie said yesterday it is important that schools avoid social promotion. "It's a no brainer; we have to avoid social promotion," said Christie at E.P. Roberts Primary School. "Some of the things that exist don't make sense because a country like The Bahamas ought to be able to more efficiently dedicate its resources, allocate [those resources] to education to assist that whole educational system towards being a much better, more productive system.

"So from my point of view I expect my minister of education to be committed to doing the big things that are necessary to put the educational system on the right path. Whatever it means we have to come to grips with it." Christie said he hopes for the government to make significant changes to the system immediately.

Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald said last week that nearly 50 percent of seniors at government high schools did not meet the requirements to graduate with diplomas, and are instead awarded leaving certificates. Fitzgerald released the results of the 2012 Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) and Bahamas Junior Certificate (BJC) exams last week.

The average grade for English Language was a D and the average grade for Mathematics was E+ in the BGCSEs. Christie challenged students of the Z Bandits 7th Annual Outreach Summer Youth Program at E.P. Roberts Primary to want to be better and excel in school. He said the education system doesn't recognize and help students with learning disabilities and that is something that poses a challenge for teachers and is something he hopes to address.

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