MPC’s low final exam results blamed on new requirements

July 6, 2016

SOUTH REWARD–The final exam results for the various streams at Milton Peters College (MPC) were not very high this year.

General Director Wim de Visser said the pass rate in the VWO stream is 66 per cent, in the HAVO stream it is 57 per cent, in the TKL stream it is 59 per cent and in the PKL/PBL stream the pass rate is MPC is 57 per cent. Sundial School performed the best from amongst the departments that fall under the Foundation for Secondary Education SVOBE board with a pass rate in its PKL/PBL section of 88 per cent.
“My conclusion is that at the VWO and HAVO levels we did a bit less than expected. At the TKL and PKL/PBL at MPC, we had percentages comparable to the last four years,” De Visser told The Daily Herald when asked to surmise the results on Tuesday. “The best results were for the Sundial department that did excellent with an outstanding 88 per cent.”
He said the low results in the VWO and HAVO departments are a result of the additional requirement to graduate that have been imposed by the Dutch Ministry: a 5.5 average for the central exam subjects. “Some of our students, unfortunately, failed because of this. Another explanation is that this academic year we allowed more students to do the exam year although their grades were not 100 per cent high enough to be sure they would succeed. However, we are a school that wants to offer possibilities and opportunities for the students to sit the exams.”
“In the PSVE department, we still see challenges for the students to reach for high marks in the academic subjects although their performance for the vocational subjects was very good. We are working on adjustments to create more possibilities to be successful as at the Sundial department.”
De Visser said he is “modestly satisfied” with the overall results. “Still there is a lot to do to prepare our students to be even more successful in the exams given the fact that the use of the Dutch language is still playing a key role. The introduction of a new curriculum for Dutch as a foreign language in now in its implementation phase,” he said.