Education Minister Randy Horton insisted yesterday that graduation rates were not being fudged or inflated before admitting that the 58 percent pass rate claimed for 2006 includes students who took an extra year to complete their Bermuda School Certificate.

The Minister who announced last week that this year's pass rate had leapt to 80 percent went on the attack against a media he accused of "placing far too much emphasis on what they consider are 'the numbers'," at a press conference at Cabinet.

But his insistence that the Education Ministry had "never moved to deny the public a clear picture" of student attainment appeared at odds with his admission that pupils who fail to make the grade by the end of the senior four (S4) year are now being tacked on to the graduation statistics when they finally achieve their BSC a year late.

Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons said last night: "We are pleased that they have graduated but to somehow count them as part of the previous year's graduation rate that's the definition of fudging the numbers.

"I think most people would say that's not right. I would say that it is the Minister that's playing a numbers game here.

The Minister is just undermining his own credibility." In truth, 48 percent of public senior school S4 students gained a BSC in 2006 in the time they were supposed to i.e. by the end of school in June.

After summer school, the pass rate had increased to 52 percent.

The Ministry's claim of a 58 percent pass rate includes about 20 extra students who should have graduated in the class of 2006 but instead got their certificates this summer.

This year, the Ministry has not revealed how many students achieved a BSC by June so a comparison with last year's 48 percent pass rate cannot be made.

The 80 percent pass rate for this year includes students who graduated after summer school, so is comparable to the 52 percent achieved by the same time last year.

It should be noted, however, that there were 96 fewer students taking the BSC this year than in 2006.*t(0,0," ")Mr. Horton told the media yesterday: "The graduation rate is in no way inflated and Iam disappointed by those who have tried to minimise the accomplishments of the class of 2007.

"These students, their parents, teachers and principals worked hard last year to reach their goal of attaining their Bermuda School Certificate."

He added: "There has been no fudging of the numbers. The Ministry has released the graduation rates and we stand by them."

The Ministry plans to change the way it reports graduation statistics from 2009, when the pass rate will be based on the number of students who start the four-year BSCprogramme in senior one (S1) divided by those who achieve the certificate by the end of S4.

New education consultant Henry Johnson told the media earlier this week that would provide a more accurate picture of attainment.

Mr. Horton claimed yesterday that the press reports containing Dr. Johnson's comments were "creative in their interpretation at best and mischievous at absolute worse" as they appeared to suggest the $250,000-a-year education expert was criticising the Ministry.

The Royal Gazette's story on Wednesday containing Dr. Johnson's remarks made clear that the Minister had announced plans in January to change to the new system of reporting in 2009.

He said then that weaknesses in data collection regarding dropouts meant it was not possible until then.

Dr. Gibbons said yesterday that was a "totally unacceptable excuse", adding that it was impossible for Government to make effective policy decisions about the public school system without knowing what was happening to students who failed to make it from S1 to S4.