NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Minister of Education Glenys Hanna-Martin advised yesterday that the government is reviewing the Bahamas High School Diploma as some students miss the mark to graduate in part due to the pandemic.
Hanna-Martin’s comments come as parents have called on the government to ease those criteria.
Speaking to reporters outside Cabinet, Hanna-Martin noted that there are two issues with the matter, one is the COVID-19 issue with students not being able to sign onto the virtual learning platform, which is currently being addressed by the ministry and individual schools with supplementary programs.
“There is another category of people who have come through the school and for one reason or another there’s a missing component for the high school diploma and some are finding out at this point that when they are thinking they supposed to graduate that they are finding out they can’t graduate,” she said.
“We are reviewing that now. It’s very late in the game now. The school year is ending shortly, so I don’t think you will be seeing fundamental reform in that regard.
Hanna-Martin said: “But we are reviewing it because it’s my view that aspects of that must be revisited without lowering academic standards, to see how we can not create barriers and be more facilitative for performing students. So that is underway.
“There are also recovery programs in the school to allow catch up for children who are facing challenges.”
The government introduced the Bahamas High School Diploma criteria in 2014.
According to the Ministry of Education, the minimum criteria to earn the BHSD is for students to attain four subjects in the Bahamas Junior Certificate (BJC) Examinations, complete 27 credit hours in grades 10—12, maintain a cumulative Grade Point Average of 2.0 over the three years, complete 30 hours of unpaid Community Service, complete 20 hours of job readiness training, and maintain 90 percent or higher attendance and punctuality.
It is also a requirement that parents participate in a minimum of three parent/teacher conferences between grades 10-12.
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