PARAMARIBO – The parents of students who sat in the 10th grade of the LBO this year made it clear that they do not approved of the way the students who want to redo the 10th grade are...

being treated. They explained that students who have failed the 10th grade multiple times are given the opportunity to redo the 10th grade while students who have always passed to the next grade are not being given the same opportunity. The parents strongly condemned the selective ban on the 10th grade redo. A woman whose 13-year-old son recently graduated for LBO-C explained that her son wants to become a doctor and would therefore like to redo the 10th so that he can get another chance at moving towards achieving his goal. She went to the principal to ask if her son could redonthe 10th grade but was told that her son had already been taken off the list of names of students and therefore could not be reenrolled in the 10th grade. When she went to the School Inspection Office she was also told that her son could not redo the 10th grade. Another woman who has a 14-year-old son explained that her son had never failed a grade but that he was initially told that he had not passed the state exam. But when he went to school the next day to pick up his papers, he was told that a mistake had been made and that he graduated for LBO-DS. The woman explained that her son is not interested in that course because he wants to go to technical school so she asked the principal if he could redo the 10th grade. “The principal stated that the ministry does not allow that. If you graduated, you must head in that direction,” said the woman who is puzzled by the new rules. “I find it sad. Why do students who failed the state exam twice are given another chance at a redo while a student who has never failed a grade is not allowed to redo the 10th grade?” The woman explained that this is not only about the fact that her son did not have high scores. “You immediately send him to LBO-DS while that is not even his choice. Aren’t you supposed to look at what a student wants and what interests him?” The woman claimed that she was even told that her son had to go to the designated school and course or to stop going to school. The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (MINOWC) could not be reached for comment.