5 Sep 2012

Big lift in numbers at Marshall Islands College but many doing developmental courses

3:09 pm on 5 September 2012

More Marshall Islanders are seeking to further their education with a rise in enrolments at the College of the Marshall Islands for the fall semester.

Enrolment data shows a record high of 1,007 students will attend classes at the two-year college, the first time the college has broken the thousand mark.

This is a 44 percent increase in students compared to the same semester in 2008, when there were 688 students enrolled.

But the college data also shows fewer than half of the students are taking credit level courses.

The majority is in developmental level programmes to improve their English and mathematics to credit level ability.

This reflects the ongoing poor performance of many public elementary and high schools in the Marshall Islands.