Hon Bill English
National Party Education Spokesman
12 September 2006
Maharey in denial over school leavers' stats
Education Minister Steve Maharey is in denial of the facts surrounding NCEA failure rates as presented by his own
ministry, says National's Education spokesman, Bill English.
"Mr Maharey's claim that just 13% of students leave school without a qualification is nonsense. "All the facts I have
used to dispute his claim come straight from the Ministry of Education's own website.
"The facts are clear:
o 27% of students leaving school in 2005 had not achieved NCEA level 1
o This is up from 20% in 2004.
o 44% of students leaving low-decile (1-3) schools do not have NCEA level 1
o 16% of students leaving high-decile (8-10) schools do not have NCEA level 1 "Mr Maharey has walked away from thousands
of young people who were promised a better future under NCEA but have now ended up failing," says Mr English.
ENDS