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EDUCATION MINISTRY LOOKS AT MOVE TOWARDS CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT AFTER EXAMS WERE HIT BY ONLINE LEAKS THE NUMBER of students passing the baccalauréat at the first stage has increased slightly

this year, provisional figures reveal. The early statistics put this year's pass rate at 76.8% for the bac général - up two percentage points on this time last year. The technology

pathway (bac technologique) recorded a provisional pass rate of 67.9% - up from 67.1% in 2010. However, pass rates were down for the bac professionnel - the more vocational route that

prepares candidates for work - from 77.9% to 74.1%. The final figures are not yet available, as some students are required to take oral catch-up tests this week and students who could not

sit the June exams will not take theirs in September. This year's bac was hit by a number of online leaks - the biggest of which affected the maths paper for students taking the bac

scientifique, which has been marked differently to ignore the leaked question. Education minister Luc Chatel says he is in favour of moving towards more continuous assessment instead of the

bac being dependent entirely on the final exam. However he said the exams would remain, adding: "I'm very attached to the bac and a national exam that is the same everywhere."