The Education Department is expected to phase out Grades 8 and 10 selection system this year, starting with the following provinces – Hela, Enga, Western Highlands, Jiwaka, Eastern Highlands and Western.
Education Secretary Dr Uke Kombra had hinted of this change before the national exams started in October last year.
He said this would enable students to complete their 13 years of education from Elementary to Grade 12 without dropping out of the system after Grade 8 or Grade 10.
“We have made a deliberate policy as you may have heard it from the Minister for Education Mr Lucas Dawa Dekena. I am restating our position and policy that we want to remove selections from our school system. Any student who comes into prep must go all the way and complete Grade 12 where there shouldn’t be dropout selections, especially at Grades 8,” Dr Kombra said.
“We will be working with the provinces to eliminate this policy, or the practice that we have where there’s a selection of students going from grade eight to nine and 10 to 11. Removing this will enable every student to have a rank and will complete 13 years of education, from prep all the way up to year 12.”
The six provinces mentioned above with the highest number of transitioning students and facilities are prepared to take this on board.
These provinces are now expected to start with the elimination of grades eight and ten selections. The provinces are expected to start implementing this early this year 2026 and the other provinces will follow in the coming years.
Dr Kombra clarified that selections would be removed but students would still sit for their national exams. Those students with low exam results can also consider taking up FODE lessons as well to upgrade their exam results or attend vocational training training while working their way back to Grade 11.
“Education is a right to every citizen and so there is work in progress to remove the selection systems so that every student gets to finish 13 years of their education journey before entering tertiary institutions,” Dr Kombra said.