Pacific

In Samoa, 70% of students fail national maths exam

15:29 pm on 2 February 2015

Parents of maths students in Samoa are threatening legal action over poor maths exam results.

Parents at public forum held by Samoa's Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture Photo: RNZI / Autagavaia Tipi Autagavaia

Results for Year 13 show 70 percent of students failed in the Samoa Secondary Leaving Certificate national mathematics exam.

The CEO of the Ministry of Education, Matafeo Tanielu Aiafi, has rejected a call by parents for the marks to be changed.

He says the marking system did away with scaling last year and reintroduced the old marking system to allow teachers to find and fix students' weaknesses including in the area of maths.

But a lawyer and parent, Pa'u Tafaogalupe Mulitalo, says the only solution to the controversial exam results is to take the issue further legally.

He says other parents are supporting the move.