Around 40 students, between grades seven and eight, have failed Arabic and they claim a ministerial decision could ban them from retaking the subject during the summer.
Students fear repeating an entire academic year with parents claiming it only hits grades seven and eight.
MP Zainab Abdulameer, who has been approached by the families to help with their appeal, has written to Education Minister Dr Majid Al Nuaimi requesting clarification.
“This decision has had a huge impact on the students mental health as they were shocked to find out that they will have to repeat the entire year,” she said.
“The students are victims of the weakness of the educational process and, instead of punishing them, alternative educational solutions should be implemented.”
According to Ms Abdulameer, a joint statement by the families attributed the students’ low grades to technical difficulties they faced during pandemic remote learning such as crashing portals or weak Internet connections.
She also added that Bahrain could implement Finnish educational models which rely on simulation rooms, practical experiences and actual application instead of theoretical examinations that depend on memorisation.
One Bahraini mother told the GDN, on condition of anonymity, that it was ‘unfair to punish children with a blanket decision applied only on grade seven and eight students’ with one school alone home to 28 of the individual so-called failures.
“As parents we weren’t informed of this decision before the start of the year and we were ambushed after we saw our children’s results,” she added.
“The ministry must look at the children with a paternal loving eye.
“There were technical glitches and some teachers were not technically prepared when the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic forced remote learning.”
She also added that children must be supported and cared for instead of punished.
“My 14-year-old son had a 54 in the first semester and 63 in the second semester which averaged to a final score of 59 which means he is one point below the passing mark,” said another unnamed Bahraini mother. “We are asking that he is given a chance to resit the exam or to be given that one point that will allow him to pass the year.”
The ministry was unavailable for comment.
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