By DITA DE BONI
One in five students leaves school without even School Certificate, figures from the Ministry of Education show.
Statistics for last year show that Maori students comprise the biggest proportion of school-leavers without a formal qualification.
About 33 per cent leave high school empty-handed, and just 4 per
cent leave with a Bursary.
But the number of 16- and 17-year-olds undertaking tertiary-based trade qualifications has grown from fewer than 10,000 in 1996 to 13,000 last year, and Maori are well represented in that group.
Most of these teenagers are males, and they go to private training institutions and polytechnics.
Pakeha and Asian students continue to dominate formal high school qualifications, and females do better than males.
Just under 30 per cent of females leave school with entry to university or a higher qualification, compared with 23 per cent of males.
More than 19 per cent of males leave high school without qualifications. The figure for females is 14.5 per cent.
Asian students outperform all other ethnic groups, 42 per cent leaving school with a Bursary.
Just 8 per cent of Asian students leave without qualifications.
Across the student population, 18.4 per cent leave with a Bursary.
For most people - almost 27 per cent of the total - sixth form certificate is their highest secondary qualification.
Since 1976, Maori students have extended their average stay in secondary education from 3.1 years to 4.2 years.
Pacific Island students are now spending an average 4.5 years at secondary school, the same as their Pakeha counterparts.
In 1993, the figure for Islanders was 4.3 years.
Asians stay 4.8 years.
