Full-time post-secondary places now allocated
The Ministry of Education has said its main selection process for placing students in full-time courses in post-secondary institutions is now complete, with results to be given today.
The chairman of the National Further Education and Training Placement Board, Fiona Ernesta, was speaking to the press in an interview yesterday morning.
Miss Ernesta said they were “satisfied with the overall results, which showed through an improvement in this year’s IGCSE results”.
Candidates were S4 and S5 students from state schools, students from the Independent and International Schools, and also those who were in S5 in 2008 but did not secure places in the 2009 selection process.
There are 34 full-time courses available from nine institutions, plus the School of Education at the University of Seychelles (formerly the National Institute of Education) and a new one-year course ¬– a certificate in policing – being offered by the Seychelles Police Academy.
Work is now underway to introduce an advanced certificate and a diploma in policing at the academy.
As from today, students can verify their placements in post-secondary institutions as follows:
State school students on Mahe, Praslin and La Digue, along with those from the Independent School, can do so at their own schools, while private candidates and International School students should go to the Ministry of Education headquarters.
All Mahe applicants should pick up their results slips from 9am to 11am, and Praslin and La Digue students from 10am to 12 noon. All students must bring along their ID cards.
Results slips have to be picked up by the students themselves, except in extreme circumstances such as them being out of the country or in hospital, in which cases the parents only, not siblings, can pick up the slips.
Miss Ernesta said the selection process ended later than usual because the IGCSE results from Cambridge University arrived late. As a result, the academic year for first-year students will also begin later than usual, with 891 successful students out of 1211 applicants for full-time courses.
The A-level course has absorbed the highest number of students – 134 – while the institution with the highest intake, for various courses, is the Seychelles Institute of Technology with 314.
Candidates who have not been successful in securing a place on a full-time course can appeal or apply for a place on the apprenticeship courses on offer, which are the next stages of the selection process.