Lesotho- Grade 7 students given a bye

(MENAFN - The Post) MASERU -ALL Grade Seven students who were supposed to sit for their end-of-year exams are being promoted to the next grade due to disruptions experienced in schools because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The announcement was made by Education Minister Ntlhoi Motsamai this week. The decision will however not affect students who were in Grade 10 and 12. Motsamai said the Covid-19 pandemic had seriously disrupted classes for a long time hence her decision to allow them toproceed to the next level. She said the Grade Seven students will have to proceed to secondary school because 'there are no primary examinations and all public schools will have to follow guidelines in place to register new students'. The guidelines include using the Form E80A-2020 to help allow students to proceed to Grade Eight. 'The forms must be collected by the principals at the Education Offices in districts starting January 5,' Motsamai said. 'Parents must at least choose three schools and the chosen schools must be where the new student lives.''I advise parents to encourage their children to choose schools close to home so that they do not register in far away places,' she said. Motsamai said students who wrote Grade Seven exams before 2020 and now need to proceed to the next grade must go and ask for the forms from schools they attended when they wrote their examinations. 'Primary school principals are expected to deliver fi lled student application forms before January 11, 2021,' she said. She said the forms will only be accepted and considered valid if they have a stamp from the student's primary school. Parents will have to deliver the forms in person if they have chosen a faraway school. She said all secondary schools are expected to accept students starting with those living near where the school is situated. 'But where the school is full unaccepted forms must be taken back to the Education Office together with the list of accepted students,' she said. She also said the forms of unaccepted students will be passed to the Ministry of Education before January 15 where schools principals will meet to fi ll the vacant spaces if any. The secondary schools are only expected to take foreign students after registering all Basotho while boarding schools will give priority to students with special needs, vulnerable children and students who do not have schools in their areas of living. In addition to that Motsamai said all schools should post lists of accepted students on their notice boards. 'If parents are not satisfied with how their students' matters were handled, they should ask to meet the principal of such schools.'