JEDDAH, 26 June 2003 — Parents of first-year elementary school students, who were enrolled last year before reaching the minimum required age of 6, are upset about a new policy which will make those students repeat the year.
Students who are a few days younger than the cut-off birth date specified for enrollment were exempted by the Ministry of Education last year. Now, however, those students will have to repeat first-year elementary even though many received excellent passes along with certificates.
Some 500 young girls will be affected by this policy.
“How do you explain to a child that she has to repeat the year because of her age and not because she is a lazy student who didn’t do well?” asked Ghalia, whose niece is one of those affected.
Parents fear that the policy will adversely affect their children psychologically as well as academically. They hope that the ministry will reconsider its decision, especially since the girls were legally enrolled with the ministry’s permission.
“When the ministry decided to change school uniforms and the merchants objected because they would lose money on their unsold stock, the ministry postponed the change until the following year. Is the uniform more important than a year of a student’s life? Why can’t the ministry allow these 500 students to go to the second level and enforce the policy on the new first-year students only?” Ghalia asked.
Gihan, whose daughter had to repeat the year because she missed the deadline by three days, thinks that it is right to have a cut-off entry age but believes there should be exceptions based on a child’s academic abilities.
“My daughter became mischievous, bored and inattentive in class because the material was not new or challenging. I think this was bad for her,” Gihan explained.
There are always exceptions to any rule and, as in other countries, the exceptions here should be based on academic assessment and not simply on age, she said. It is common in many countries to place students at different levels, depending on their abilities, and sometimes in the case of gifted children, they are allowed to skip a year.
“Every year there should be an academic assessment to see what level the children have reached and to make sure that they can take advantage of the educational opportunities they are entitled to,” said Gihan.
