SXMElections.com

SOUTH REWARD--The new tightened Dutch examination requirements will go into effect at Milton Peters College (MPC) in the new academic year, MPC General Director Wim de Visser said on Thursday.

The tightening of the rule means that the average mark for the central written exams must be 5.5 or higher.

De Visser said MPC would introduce the 5.5 average rule, the subject regulation (grote vakken regeling) and the mathematics test (rekentoets) in the HAVO and VWO departments as of the new academic year.

Grote vakken regeling refers to key subject regulation for the three major subjects math, Dutch and English. Only one insufficient grade will be allowed for these subjects, while the mathematics test will have to meet a certain standard on numeracy.

MPC’s current passing exam requirements refer only to a certain limited number of insufficient grades for all the subjects, De Visser explained.

Then-Education Minister Silveria Jacobs had postponed implementation of the new Dutch examination requirements in 2013 until the 2015-2016 academic year as all HAVO and VWO schools in the Kingdom would have to be in compliance with the new requirements by the new implementation date to be guaranteed acceptance to colleges and universities in the Netherlands.

As the Preparatory Secondary Vocational Education (PSVE) schools also will have to comply with this new requirement, additional measures in the form of sharpened examination trainings will have to be devised to accommodate this change, which also applies to the HAVO and VWO education levels, she had said at the time. The postponement followed a petition letter from students at the time against the new 5.5 average rule.

De Visser said the HAVO and VWO diplomas must be recognised by the Dutch Government to be accepted worldwide. The St. Maarten Government is primarily responsible for the VSBO exams (TKL, PKL, PBL).

“So if we should deviate from the Dutch qualifications we would endanger the validity of our HAVO and VWO diplomas. That is not in the interest of our future lawyers, doctors, leaders, etcetera, that want to go to highly rewarded universities,” he said.

“We already prepare our students to that (new requirements) and I am confident we can meet these additional requirements together with our students,” De Visser said. “The way should always be open for our students to study worldwide (including The Netherlands) with a highly respected HAVO and VWO diploma. No second-rank diplomas in St. Maarten, only high-class rewarded ones.”

He said the school had sat with the Ministry of Education on this subject and parties believed MPC had to meet the standard of the Dutch Ministry of Education as the school did not want to offer less valuable diplomas to its HAVO and VWO students. “The St. Maarten diplomas should be of equal value as the Dutch diplomas,” he said.

The Netherlands has already implemented the first tightening up of the examination requirement and even went further in that examinees on HAVO and VWO are only allowed to get one 5 on average on their end-of year report for the main subjects (Dutch, English and mathematics). The average of the school examination mark and the central examination mark must be 5.5 or higher for at least two of the three main subjects.