REPETITION
1.30
Brief mention has already been made of the practice whereby child- ren who do not do very well in their end-of-year examinations often repeat a year of their primary education. It is however difficult to estimate the actual percentage of repetition as the movement of children between schools confuses the issue.
1.32
Officially, schools are permitted an overall maximum of 6% repeti- tion each year up to and including P. 5 but with no repetition of P. 6. This is also subject to the ruling that no child should repeat more than one primary year. Schools report a repetition rate of something like 4-5% and even with this figure (say 42%) it would mean that something like 22% of the population have 7 rather than 6 years of primary education. In practice, because of unreported repetition occurring when pupils move from one school to another, the percentage is higher than this and the best estimate obtainable from current statistical data is that at least 30% of children repeat one year of primary education.
1.33
It is believed that the same pressures which led to the existence of 'crammer' kindergartens have also caused the high repetition rate in primary schools. Many parents even send their children to Primary 1 in a private school in the hope that this will improve their chances of entering Primary 1 in an aided school one year later.
1.34
1.35
(a)
(b)
(c)
Reinforcing such views and practices are:
the strong feeling that diligence can fully make up for the lack of ability;
unfamiliarity with the concepts of special education and remedial teaching; and
the general belief among both parents and teachers that repetition is the answer to most problems.
This excessive use of repetition is both educationally unsound and most uneconomical, and the matter is investigated in some detail in Chapters 4 and 6.
THE GOVERNMENT'S INTENTIONS
1.36
It is the Government's intention to improve the services offered in the fields of child care, kindergarten and primary education to remedy the defects in the system, some of which have been outlined in this Chapter.
1.37
This paper sets out its proposals to effect these improvements. In particular, the Government aims to ensure that these services are improved in quality, and that pre-primary services are expanded to meet demand with financial assistance for those in low income groups. The Government is also conscious of the need to reduce the excessive element of competition in the system and this paper makes proposals to remedy this situation.
6