London: Chinese and Indian origin students in the United Kingdom (UK) far outshine their white counterparts, data released by the Department for Education and Skills revealed today (Feb 25, 2004).

Chinese pupils are the best performing minority ethnic group in all subjects at all levels, while Indian pupils and pupils of mixed white and Asian heritage consistently achieve above the national average at all levels.

According to the data, 50.7 per cent of pupils of all ethnic backgrounds got five or more grades 'A plus' to 'C' at their final school leaving exams in 2003.

For ethnic Chinese students, however, the percentage was 74.1 per cent, with 90 per cent achieving success in mathematics compared with 71 per cent for all ethnic groups.

For ethnic Indian students, 65.2 per cent got five or more top General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) grades, followed by whites with 51.3 per cent, pupils of Pakistani 41.5 per cent and Bangladeshi 45.5 per cent.

Schools Minister Stephen Twigg welcomed the data, which clearly showed how pupils are doing in all Key Stage tests and GCSEs, broken down by ethnicity, gender, English as an additional language, special educational needs and free schools meals.

"I welcome the improvement these figures show. But we must not be complacent - while some pupils from all ethnic groups achieve at the highest level these figures show that many pupils, particularly from African-Caribbean backgrounds are not achieving their potential through school," Twigg said.

"This data shows us the scale of the challenge and that is why I am putting closing that achievement gap at the heart of our improvement agenda.

"This department has put in place a national strategy to raise the achievement of minority ethnic pupils and we are working hard with schools to ensure that every single pupil gets the chance to achieve their potential," he added.