Grading fault costs girls places at uni

By JAMES APA GUMUNO
SOME Grade 12 schoolgirls will miss out on selection for tertiary institutions because of the errors in their English results.
At the Catholic-run Notre Dame girl’s secondary school in Western Highlands, female students with 2.27 to 3.5 grade point average who were supposed to be selected for the University of Papua New Guinea, University of Goroka,  Unitech and Divine Word University have missed out completely.
Out of 168 Grade 12 students last year, only 26 had correct results. The rest were downgraded, especially in the applied English results.
Sr Mary Vivette, Cr Plak Paki and Peter Ju said in a press statement that the girls had been treated unfairly.
They said the students had missed out on selection to various tertiary institutions because of no fault of their own.
They said the corrected results were submitted late to consider school leavers forms from Notre Dame secondary.
The corrections on applied English results were done after Dec 15, last year – one day before the selection of the school leavers closed.
Parents and school administrators said most of the selectors left the selection venue when the correct results with a letter of explanation from the director of measurement service unit Greg Kapanombo were available at the Office of the Higher Education.
They noted from media reports a drop in enrolment at the UPNG which could have been caused by the error in the results.
The parents had requested the school administration to send a letter immediately to the Education secretary through the MSU with the list of eligible students who got a GPA of 2.27 and above, with copies of their school leave forms.
They want to liaise with the OHE to give them places in tertiary institutions  with scholarships.
The parents said they would seek legal action for the costs and damage done to their daughters’ education due to negligence at the MSU.
They thanked Secretary Musave Sinebare for his prompt direction to correct the errors in applied English even if it was too late.