Fewer than one third of students graduated from the Government schools system with the Bermuda School Certificate this year.

However the numbers rose from last year?s figure of 22 percent of students to 30 percent. In a press statement the Education Ministry said it was pleased with the improvement. ?This certificate recognises four years of consistent work by students.?

It noted it was only the second year students had the opportunity to graduate with the certificate. The statement continued: ?The Ministry anticipates the improvement shown in the second year will continue in future years.?

However the figures are lower than under the old system. In 2000, 65 percent of students graduated with the old Bermuda Secondary School Certificate (BSSC) while 66 percent managed it in 2001. It was then scrapped in 2002.

Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons said last night: ?While an increase of a few percentage points is better than a decrease, no one should be pleased with a 30 percent pass rate as this means 70 percent have failed. This result is unacceptable by anyone?s standards.?

Meanwhile Opposition Education Spokesman Neville Darrell has backed Government?s proposal to end the practice of moving failing children up grades.

The practice, known as social promotion, was attacked by Chief Education Officer Joseph Christopher who is now consulting teachers on their views with results due back by September.

Mr. Darrell said it was a positive step but should have gone further and committed to abolishing the practice which he said undermined students ability to succeed in society.

In a memo sent to principals but leaked to the Press, Dr. Christopher said ?principals will be aware there has been concern at P1 that the pre-schools are sending students forward ?unready? for primary school; at M1 that primary school are sending students forward without proper preparation for middle schools??

Mr. Darrell also welcomed Dr. Christopher?s pledge to make sure teaching staff are fully accredited.

?He?s saying let?s look at the support systems around a child, the teaching background and qualifications teachers bring to the classrooms.?

He said students who failed were often indicating wider failings in the system, although he stressed Bermuda?s public schools had some fine educators adding: ?It?s a performance issue.?

Teacher licensing, raised by the Progressive Labour Party in its 1998 platform, had fallen by the wayside.

?We are no closer to teacher licensing at all,? said Mr. Darrell. ?We need to look at the institutions they come from.?

And he said often it was the parents who pressured for their children to be moved up, even when their performance didn?t merit it.

?I believe the discussions Dr. Christopher has started are helpful,? said Mr. Darrell. Principals needed to be given more autonomy in the schools said Mr. Darrell. ?Let?s make sure they have the resources to bring about positive results within our schools.?

Parents must also play their part in supporting students said Mr. Darrell.

In a press statement issued yesterday, the Education Ministry welcomed support from the Bermuda Union of Teachers who also hit out at social promotion and said it would like to hear from parent organisations before anything is finalised.