The introduction of ?challenge exams? for deficient students at Berkeley Institute and CedarBridge Academy has sparked an outcry from teachers and the Opposition who claim the exams are nothing more than Government?s attempt to boost graduation numbers.

A teacher, who did not want to be identified yesterday said teachers were afraid of losing of their jobs if they did not comply with the directive from Education, even though they did not agree. The teacher said the directive instructed all department heads at the two schools to draw up one time exams for S4 students who had failed the upper level courses required for graduation.

However the Minister of Education, Terry Lister yesterday said teachers had somehow misunderstood what the challenge examinations were about. Mr. Lister said challenge examinations were generally meant for students coming from outside the school system to help the schools determine the levels of mastery that the child already had and in this way make it easier for teachers to know where the child should be placed.

?But it should also be recognised that challenge examinations are also used by schools to offer opportunities for students who are missing credits from lower level courses after passing upper level courses,? he said.

Mr. Lister said if S4 students, who were taking S1, S2 and S3 level courses ? not upper level courses ? had not passed a lower level course, they would now be given a second chance to gain the necessary credits for graduation.

?Understand that challenge examinations are not just an easy way out. They are set by the school. They are set at a rigourous standard so there is no doubt that the student really does know and understand the material,? he said.

The Principal of CedarBridge Academy, Kalmar Richards said yesterday that teachers would have the responsibility for developing the exams which would be reviewed by education officers. Ms Richards said she was confident that teachers would develop exams that were rigourous and allowed students to demonstrate their full range of competencies of that course.

Mr. Lister said in order to determine who would be eligible to write these examinations, the following criteria had been set up:

Students would be allowed to obtain no more than eight credits in this manner

All courses would be given credit on a pass/fail basis only

l Students could take these examinations if they were doing a higher level course, but had failed the lower level course previously and needed the lower level course in order to meet graduation requirements.

Transfer students who had not taken the course at all because they were new to the system.

?We are proud to be a school system which offers young people, who may not have been successful the first time round, the chance to gain the credits they need in order to graduate,? he said.

Meanwhile Shadow Minister of Education Neville Darrell said he felt these exams were being used to circumvent the education system by mandating them to S4 students in an effort to increase the number of graduates this year. Mr. Darrell was also under the impression that students who had already failed the upper level courses required for graduation were being given the opportunity to write a one time exam.

?This improper use of challenge exams has the effect of devaluing the students, the teachers, the senior schools and more broadly the public education,? he said.

These students, he said, may ?pass out? of the public school system, but in the tough and impersonal world they will be ?passed over? if they could not continue their education and build stable, meaningful lives and careers for themselves.