November 3, 1981

The steep decline in short-term interest rates appeared to be spreading yesterday to the intermediate and long-term bond markets, despite a heavy supply of new note and bond issues. Illustrating the continuing drop in short term-rates, new threeand six-month Treasury bills averaged 12.695 percent and 12.721 percent, respectively, at yesterday's auctions. or sharply below last week's auction rates of 13.352 percent for the three-month bills and 13.619 for the six-month issue. Three months ago, the same issues were auctioned at rates three percentage points higher. As a result of the six-month Treasury bill auction yesterday, banks and savings institutions may pay a top rate of 13.659 percent on new six-month savings certificates starting today. The new rate is onequarter of a percentage point higher than the average of the last four six-month bill auctions.

In the quarterly profits table in Busi- ness Day yesterday, the name and sales figures for Kidde Inc. were incor- rect. The company had sales of $740,- 048,000 in the quarter ended Sept. 30, 1981, up 14 percent from the previous year.

year-old student at Evander Childs High School in the Bronx, is in her fifth year of high school and is determined to get a diploma no matter how long it takes. She is one of many students around the country who do not finish high school in the customary four years, taking an extra semester or an additional year or longer to graduate. Often, such young people are 19 or 20 years old before they get their diplomas. The idea that high school ought to be completed by the time a person reaches the age of 18 is no longer as strictly observed as it once was. There is now more willingness to accept the idea that some students need more time to get through the required curriculum and should be allowed to proceed at their own pace. There is also more willingness to accept the idea that some students require less time.

The United States today confirmed that Americans had been involved in military support activities in Libya and called the involvement ''reprehensible.'' According to Dean Fischer, a State Department spokesman, American citizens have been servicing planes of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's Libyan Air Force, including C-130 transports and CH-47 helicopters. Mr. Fischer also said that he could confirm that American citizens had also served as crew members on charter flights from Libya to Chad on United African Airways, a Libyan line used to ferry troops and equipment. But, the States Department spokesman added, ''Our information is that they have not been pilots'' on either the military or troop-carrying charter planes. Libya, a militant Arab nation in North Africa, has been warring in Chad.

International The U.S. stressed the Camp David approach to a Middle East peace. President Reagan also told King Hussein of Jordan that it was imperative to cooperate in seeking an overall settlement in the region. But there was no indication of any change in Jordan's refusal to take part in negotiations arising from the Egyptian-Israeli accords, and later the monarch publicly endorsed Saudi Arabia's plan for regional peace. (Page A1, Column 6.) Creation of a P.L.O.-governed state is essential to the Middle East peace plan proposed by Saudi Arabia, according to Crown Prince Fahd. In expressing support for the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Saudi leader asserted that the Camp David accords were ''a dead end.'' (A8:1.)