Give Scholarship back to rightful owners

Tuesday 8 Mar 2005 Deborah Coddington Press Releases -- Education

ACT Education Spokesman Deborah Coddington today called on the Labour Government to do the right thing and allow the New Zealand Educational Scholarship Trust to once again run scholarship exams and end the debacle that NZQA has caused.

"In answer to my questions today in Parliament, Education Minister Trevor Mallard agreed that the Trust had always been consistent in its warnings about the NCEA Scholarship run by NZQA.

"The NCEA Scholarship was always doomed to fail because it attempts to graft standards-based assessment, wherein students aren't ranked against each other, on to an exam which by its very nature is competitive.

"The Minister didn't rule out my suggestion that Scholarship be given back to the Trust to run. For the sake of senior students - both today's and those in the future - he should give Scholarship back to the Trust who've awarded scholarships without fuss for a decade," Miss Coddington said.

ENDS

For more information visit ACT online at http://www.act.org.nz or contact the ACT Parliamentary Office at act@parliament.govt.nz.

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