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<dcvalue element="date" qualifier="issued" language="es_ES">1995</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="language" qualifier="iso" language="es_ES">es</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="callnumber" qualifier="null" language="es_ES">382.3 B584L(58739)</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="contributor" qualifier="author" language="es_ES">Corden, W. Max</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="doctype" qualifier="null" language="es_ES">Coediciones</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="subject" qualifier="spanish" language="es_ES">NAFTA</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="coverage" qualifier="spatialspa" language="es_ES">AMERICA LATINA</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="subject" qualifier="spanish" language="es_ES">LIBERALIZACION DEL INTERCAMBIO</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="subject" qualifier="spanish" language="es_ES">NEGOCIACIONES COMERCIALES</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="subject" qualifier="spanish" language="es_ES">TRATADOS</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="subject" qualifier="spanish" language="es_ES">ZONAS DE LIBRE COMERCIO</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="subject" qualifier="english" language="es_ES">FREE TRADE AREAS</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="coverage" qualifier="spatialeng" language="es_ES">LATIN AMERICA</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="subject" qualifier="english" language="es_ES">TRADE LIBERALIZATION</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="subject" qualifier="english" language="es_ES">TRADE NEGOTIATIONS</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="subject" qualifier="english" language="es_ES">TREATIES</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="subject" qualifier="english" language="es_ES">NAFTA</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="title" qualifier="null" language="es_ES">Una zona de libre comercio en el Hemisferio Occidental: posibles implicancias para América Latina</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="description" qualifier="null" language="es_ES">Incluye Bibliografía</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="relation" qualifier="ispartof" language="es_ES">En: La liberalización del comercio en el Hemisferio Occidental - Washington, DC : BID/CEPAL, 1995 - p. 13-40</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="project" qualifier="null" language="es_ES">Proyecto Apoyo al Proceso de Liberalización Comercial en el Hemisferio Occidental</dcvalue>
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<dcvalue element="topic" qualifier="spanish" language="es_ES">POLÍTICA COMERCIAL Y ACUERDOS COMERCIALES</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="topic" qualifier="english" language="es_ES">TRADE NEGOTIATIONS</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="workarea" qualifier="spanish" language="es_ES">COMERCIO INTERNACIONAL E INTEGRACIÓN</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="workarea" qualifier="english" language="es_ES">INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND INTEGRATION</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="type" qualifier="null" language="es_ES">Texto</dcvalue>
<dcvalue element="bodyfulltext">
EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT
IN THE ENGLISH - SPEAKING
CARIBBEAN
A Contemporary Survey

UNESCO

ECLA

UNDP

;
»UUU I4221 - BIBLIOTECA CEPAL I

;
PROJECT
DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION
IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Organización de las
Naciones Unidas
para la Educación, la
Ciencia y la Cultura

Programa de Jas
Naciones Unidas
para ei
Desarrollo

Naciones Unidas

Comisión Económica
para América Latina

proyecto Desarrollo y Educación
en América Latina y el Caribe

Laurence D.
EDUCATION A N D

Carrington
DEVELOPMENT

IN T H E E N G L I S H - S P E A K I N G
A CONTEMPORARY

CARIBBEAN

SURVEY

Introduction b y GermSn W .

Rama

Distr.
GENERAL

780801

DEALC/16
October 19 78
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH

CONTENTS
Chapter

Page
INTRODUCTION

i

FOREWORD

I

.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

3

Area and Population
External trade and its direction
Government Revenue and Expenditure
Gross Domestic Product
Tourism
Political Status and Orientation
Summary
II

1

LABOUR FORCE

3
5
12
13
17
18
20
21

Jamaica
Barbados
Guyana
Trinidad and Tobago
Windward and Leewards
Summary

III

21
25
26
28
29
31

33

Primary and secondary
Common Problems
Pre-Primary Level
Primary Level
Secondary Level
IV

REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

33
35
35
36
39

EDUCATION WITHIN NATIONAL GOALS

43

Barbados
Primary Level
Secondary Level

43
44
45

Guyana
The Pre-primary Sector
Primary Education
Secondary Education
School types at the secondary level
Other provisions . . .
Guyana National Service

48
54
54
57
61
61
62

Jamaica
Pre-primary Level
Primary Education
Secondary Education

62
65
65
68

Trinidad and Tobago
Primary Level

70
70
- i -

Chapter

Page
Secondary Level
Technical and Vocational
Windwards and Leewards .
.

V
VI

THE UNIVERSITIES

81

LANGUAGE AND DEVELOPMENT

85

Language and Development Problems
Attitudes toward Creoles
The Effects of Language Conflict
Policy development
VII

73
75
79

85
86
86
87

OVERVIEW

89

SUMMARY - .RESUME - RESUME*!

93

APPENDIX I

97

- Dependency ratios

APPENDIX II - Notes on the labels for types of schools . . .
APPENDIX III

101

APPENDIX IV - Jamaica.

Flow diagram: Pre-primary, Primary

and Secondary Levels
APPENDIX V

113

- Barbados.

APPENDIX VI - Guyana.

99

Flow chart of school system . . . .
Flow chart of school system

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . .

.

115
117
119

List of tables
Number

Page

1

Area and population of English-speaking Caribbean States . .

4

2

Urban population - English-speaking Caribbean

5

3

Direction of trade, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad 6
Tobago, 1967 and 1974

6

4

Direction of trade. Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad £
Tobago, 1967 and 1974

7

5

Barbados - Selected domestic exports of total domestic
exports, 1975 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

8

- ii -

imb
6

Trinidad £ Tobago.

7

Trinidad £ Tobago. Exports of petroleum sector vs.
agricultural sector

Exports and imports
..

8

Exports, imports and trade balances.
Jamaica, Trinidad £ Tobago

9

Imports, exports and balances 1975

10

Government revenue and expenditure

11

Gross Domestic Product at current factor cost, 1976

12

Comparative growth of GDP, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad £
Tobago, Selected years

13

Barbados: Contribution to GDP of sectors

14

Guyana: Contribution to GDP of industrial sectors

15

Jamaica: Contribution to GDP of industrial sectors,
purchasers values, current cost

16

Trinidad £ Tobago: Contribution to GDP of industrial sectors

17

Jamaica: Labour force by training received

18

Jamaica: Unemployed labour force by training received

19

Labour Force, employed and unemployed highest level of
education attained

20

Jamaica: Occupational grouping of the unemployed labour
force

21

Sectoral distribution of unemployed labour force

22

Working population 15 years and over by level of education.
Jamaica, Trinidad £ Tobago, Guyana, Barbados, 1970

23

Vacancies available, Guyana, 1970

24

Industrial distribution of labour force, Trinidad £ Tobago,
1970 and 1974

25

Working population by main occupation groups,
Windwards and Leewards, 1970

- iii -

Barbados, Guyana,

.
. . ..

. ..

Pa

Number

ge

26

Working population by major industrial groups,
Windwards and Leewards, 1970

30

27

Working population 15 years and over by level of education,
Windwards and Leewards, 1970

31

28

Barbados. Teachers actually in government owned and/or
maintained schools at June 30, 1973

47

29

Guyana: Regional distribution of schools, places and
surplus/deficit, 1970 and 1975

55

30

Guyana: Involvement ratio of pupils, primary schools,
first level

56

31

Guyana: Trained teachers by educational administrative
districts, 1970 and 1975

57

32

Guyana: Schools designated secondary by administrative
district, 1970 and 1975 .

.

58

33

Guyana: Distribution of students enrolled in the secondary
departments of all age schools, 1970 and 1975

59

34

Involvement ratios, secondary cycle, 1970 and 1975

59

35

Guyana: Teachers in schools designated secondary by
qualifications and status, 1970 and 1975

60

36

Jamaica: Schools, places and overcrowding in primary and
all age schools, 1975-76, by parish

66

37A.

Jamaica. Teacher: Pupil ratios by parish showing overall
ratios and trained teacher ratios, primary schools

67

37B.

Jamaica. Teacher: Pupil ratios by parish showing overall
ratios and trained teacher ratios, all age schools

67

38

Jamaica. Levels of teacher training in new secondary and
secondary high, 1974

70

39

Trinidad S Tobago. Distribution of schools places and
enrolment by planning regions

71

40

Trinidad  Tobago. Distribution and training of teachers
and teacher: pupil ratios

72

41

Trinidad 6 Tobago. Regional distribution of secondary
school places, October 1977

74

- iv -

Number
4-2
43
-

Graduate and non-graduate proportions secondary schools.
Trinidad £ Tobago 1977

75

Under-graduate student registration, full-time degrees,
1976-1977

44

82

University of Guyana: distribution of students by
faculty, 1975

84

- v -

INTRODUCTION
The study made by L.D. Carrington is part of an overall investigation by
the Project on styles of educational development.
Two lines were explored in carrying out the programme. Following one of
these, an investigation was made of the role of education in countries where
priority was assigned to education within a modernization and national integration policy. Two case studies were made following this line.
In one case, arrangements were made with the National Planning and Co-ordination Board of Ecuador (JUNAPLA) to conduct a study on Education in the
Modernization Process of Ecuador, to be published in 1978. In this case,
petroleum was the instrument that set in motion the dynamic forces of the economy,
and its exploitation gave rise to certain changes in the Ecuadorian development
process. This economic change made it possible to undertake a social development
policy wherein education began to play an important role in the modernization of
the country, while at the same time experiencing the contradictions of the
overall process of change.
o

The second case study was made in Peru, on Social Structure, Development
and Education in Peru (1950-1975), which will shortly be completed. The
outstanding feature of the Peruvian process is the political decision to introduce
changes in various social spheres - education among them - and the balance
between the achievements and the limitations resulting from the inertia of the
social system vis-a-vis the changes originated in the political power.
At the same time, the information available indicated that small countries
of the Latin American region, as they attained social status as a nation,
supported educational policies which led to significant achievements which
appeared to be far beyond what might be expected from their economic resources
and other structural conditions. The explanation for such educational policies
had to be sought in different reasons, and their results would make it possible
to consider from another angle the relative backwardness in education in other
Latin American societies.
In response to this concern, and following the second line of research,
two studies were published by the Project: Education and Development in Costa
Rica (DEALC/2), and Education and Development in Paraguay. Basic Education
DEALC/7), and now presents a study on development and education in the principal
English-speaking Caribbean countries: Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and
Tobago.
Notwithstanding the fact that the first two countries are of Spanish
tradition and the rest are former British colonies in the West Indies, a detailed
analysis shows that these national cases have common features in their social
structure and in the orientation of their educational policies, which justify
their inclusion in the same line of exploration.
In the social sciences, comparison between different social structures has
recognized limits and problems. Each national society possesses a history and
a cultural significance of its own which encourage anthropological analysis, and
- vii -

what Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron called resignation to non-comparability / or else, a reduction of the social specificity of the phenomena
under study, restricting the approach to some of their dimensions, which, while
it facilitates comparison, does not reflect the complexity of the social situation.
Moreover, it should be borne in mind that an analysis of education should
not overlook the social use of education, of its significance in terms of
employment, status, political participation, etc., and of the society and its
various groups. Similar indicators can conceal different and even opposed
configurations, since each indicator can only be evaluated in accordance with
the significance it acquires in society.
Consequently, the following remarks are aimed merely at describing a
minimun of common features and trends that make it possible to reflect on the
importance of socio-political factors in educational development. In the particular cases of Costa Rica, Paraguay and the Caribbean countries, the significance
of the socio-political variables should be placed in the context of what is
often called small nations. While this has not yet been the subject of special
studies in Latin America, it can be argued that the small size of the nation is
associated with two main features: on the one hand, the spectrum of possible
styles of development is much more limited than that of large countries; on the
other hand, in certain conditions, its small size is a contributing factor to
the emergence of trends towards national integration
in which education
plays an important role.
While it is not possible in this Introduction to consider the general
problem of the small countries, it should be noted that, in reviewing their
unfavourable and favourable forms, Carlos Real de Azua recognized among the
latter cohesion and mobilization, stating that ... cohesion or homogeneity
above the average can be diagnosed as traces of nature, if not of the essence
of the small size of the nation
.*According to our assumption, in those
societies which turn to become nations the problem of national viability,
affected by the weakness of the international system of power and the economic
disadvantages of scale, strengthens the mechanisms of social, integration and/or

V in La comparabilité des systèmes denseignement, included in Robert
Castel and Jean-Claude Passeron: Education, développement, démocratie, Ed. Mouton, Paris, 1967.
*/ In Latin America, national and social integration policies based on
education had an important precedent in the case of the River Plate countries,
starting in the last third of the nineteenth century. These were analysed by
Gregorio Weinberg in Modelos educativos en el desarrollo histórico de America
Latina (DEALC/5) and Carlos Filgueira in Expansión educacional y estratificación social en américa Latina 1960-1970 (DEALC/4).
  / Carlos Real de Azûa, Las pequeñas naciones y el estilo de desarrollo
constrictivo in Revista de la CEPAL, Second Semester, 1977. United Nations
Publication, Sale- No.S.77.II.G.5 , page 67. The article presents a comprenhensive bibliography on the subject, to which should be added, in view of the
importance it assigns to education in structuring the type of society defined
as a nation, the work of Kalman H. Silvert and Leonard Reissman, Education, Class
and Nation. The Experiences of Chile and Venezuela. Ed. Elsevier, New York,1976.
- viii -

requires a special consideration of the problem of the quality of human resources.
In both cases 3 and particularly when they appear simultaneously, the role of
education becomes a key factor in the difficult development strategy in small
nations *_/.
In the first place, the countries mentioned have in common their small size
in relation to the Latin American scale. The largest is Paraguay, with an area
of 406,752 kin2, and Barbados is the smallest, with 430 km2. But the former,
owing to its history and to ecological reasons, has a region to the west of the
Paraguay river which, while it covers 60% of the countrys total area, contains
only 3% of the total population, whereas 70% of that population lives in an oval,
the largest diameter of which is approximately 200 km, with Asuncion, the capital
city, in its centre. Guyana - the second country in size - is in a similar
situation to that of Paraguay for, although it is 214,970 km2 in area, its
790,000 inhabitants are concentrated in very limited coastal areas; consequently,
in both countries the larger size is in reality of virtual use.
As well, the populations are small. Paraguay, Jamaica and Costa Rica, in
decreasing order, fluctuate around 2,000,000 inhabitants, while Trinidad and
Tobago has approximately 1,000,000; in the rest of the English-speaking countries
the figures are lower still.
In the third place, these countries are undergoing a phase of demographic
transition insofar as urbanization is concerned. In 1975, Paraguays urban
population was 39.6%, Costa Ricas 42.2%. In 1970, Jamaica had an urban
population of 37.1%; Guyana, 40%; Trinidad and Tobago, 45%; and Barbados, 54.3%.
In other words, except in Barbados, which is a special case because of its small
territory, in all other cases the majority of the population still lives in
rural areas.
In the fourth place, these countries, according to the World Banks rating,
are in the per capita income category of 500-1,999 dollars. The two South
American countries had a per capita income in 1975 of about 500 dollars; Costa
Rica, 800 dollars; Barbados and Jamaica, 1,200 dollars; while Trinidad and Tobago,
with its 1,700 dollars, reflects the favourable position of a petroleun-producing
country. Dispersion of the figures is considerable, and there is a broad range
of countries which, because of their intermediate economies, has been defined as
the worlds middle class, transferring to the international sphere the elusive
concept of the social sciences and establishing, in the same way that they do, a
negative definition: the countries that are neither notoriously poor nor admittedly wealthy are included in this category.
Finally, the cases considered in this study present a special educational
configuration in the context of Latin America. As regards illiteracy in the
population under 15 years of age, some countries have almost eradicated it: the
percentage of illiteracy in Barbados was 5% in 1974; in Trinidad and Tobago, 4% in

*/ An example of the problems, with particular reference to human resources
and social democracy as components of the national definition for New Zealand can
be found in W. B. Sutch, Colony or Nation, Sydney University Press, Second edition,
QirHnov
J

3

1 QR 8 .

1975; on the other hand, in other cases, although the percentage ranges from 10%
to 20% (Costa Rica, 11.6% in 1973; Guyana 15% in 1970; Jamaica, 18.1% en 1960;
and Paraguay, 19.8% in 1972), the literacy strategies in Jamaica and the educational policies in the remaining societies have caused significant drops in the
illiteracy rate in the 10-19 age group, as revealed by the examples of Costa
Rica and Paraguay (4.8% and 13.9%, respectively)
/, thus making it possible to
consider those countries as candidates for the residual illiteracy category.

With regard to the coverage of primary education, as in the case of
literacy, these countries are among those that undertook to modernize education
at an early stage.
While in 1960 the gross rate for primary education was 100% (even higher
in some cases) the corresponding rates for intermediate education were very
weak: 10% in two countries - Jamaica and Paraguay -, 20% in Costa Rica and
Trinidad and Tobago, and higher rates in: Barbados and Guyana. Coverage for
higher education in all countries was 1% to 2% in the 20-24 age-group, with the
sole exception of Costa Rica, where it was already 5%.
In the following fifteen years, the most salient feature was the expansion
of intermediate education: slow in Paraguay, intermediate rates in Costa Rica
and Jamaica, and higher in Barbados and Guyana, which had started off with
higher rates, and where they reached a gross attendance of the order of 50% ••*/
Insofar as higher education is concerned, while the rate of growth during
the period under review was not negligible, considering the starting point,
with the exception of Costa Rica these countries barely attain a coverage of
around 5%, which places them in a similar, or even lower, position than the
countries with the weakest educational development of the region. (In 1975, the
rate in Nicaragua was 6.7%; in Honduras, 4.5%; in El Salvador, 7%, and in Guatemala, 4.3%) ***/.
As a whole, these trends show the main characteristics of the educational
strategies of the countries concerned. In all cases, priority was always given
to literacy and primary education; furthermore, policies were implemented in a
systematic manner, and succeeded in reducing illiteracy and in reaching a
considerable coverage in basic education. In the meantime, intermediate education was limited to training of the manpower indispensable for employment in the
tertiary sector and, to a lesser degree, to the teaching of manual techniques.
The training of cadres and skilled technicians was restricted to the minimun

Source of data: ECLA: Indicators of economic and social development in
Latin America, 1976, E/CEPAL/1021, 18 November 1976 ; and Inter-American Development Bank: Economic and Social Development in Latin America, Report 1976, Washington D.C.
**/ Unesco, Statistical Yearbook 1975, Paris, 1976. The rates are different
from those given by Lawrence Carrington, since he uses net rates, for one type of
intermediate education only.
**/ See Table No. 5 in DEALC/7, Educación y desarrollo en el Paraguay.
enseñanza básica, Buenos Aires, September 1977.
- x -

La

requirements. Thus, Costa Rica kept its university closed until 1940, while in
Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, with primary education rates of 100% and over,
the higher education rate was not above 1%.
The desire for social integration reflected by this policy is obvious. In
one way or another, the centres of power in these societies set about obtaining
the participation of the population in a common - written - code, and providing
access to the basic levels of reasoning; in other words, based .on certain social
values, to become integrated for the purpose of defining its national identity
and internalizing the values of the dominant social group (and, in certain
societies, other stabilizing values of the model of society). In the case of
the island in the Caribbean, the British Empire appeared interested in the
socialization of its colonies in their transition to independence. Later, the
independent states turned to the building of a democratic nation on the basis
of multiracial and multilingual populations.
In the case of Costa Rica, the educational proccess which started at the
end of the nineteenth century reflects throughout the formation of a social
system characterized by a class alliance. This alliance is at the base of a
society wherein the national identity and a democratic political concept are
closely linked by the fact that education is the support of both and the most
suitable instrument of social advancement. Concentration on primary education
indicated the role of the middle classes of coffee-growers in the structure of
power, in the same way that the recent expansion of intermediate education, and
particularly of higher education, indicate the role played by middle-class paid
workers closely connected with the State and the services.
The peculiar phenomenon of national integration in Paraguay is no less
evident Its Spanish-Guarani bilingualism and the constant factor of its
evolution as a dramatic sanguinary experience of two wars with Latin American
countries, were reinforced by a long history of international isolation, all of
which nurtured a type of identity based on strong traditional roots. In this
country, the most markedly rural one of those reviewed, elementary education
could hardly be oriented toward the training of human resources, which the
economic system even today only requires in limited numbers. The key to the
social demand for education must be sought in the need of the Guarani-speaking
population to have access to the Spanish language, and in the necessary socialization prior to the international or internal emigration; as for the key to the
official supply of education it must be sought in the desire to incorporate and
transmit those values suitable to social stabilization.
Furthermore, the purpose of controlling the social demands of emerging
groups is another constant factor, as notorious as bilingualism. The economic
structure of the countries under review did not call for large volumes of human
resources graduated from intermediate and higher education to provide education
for those levels at an early stage of educational development would have meant
less resources for integration activities and favoured the consolidation of new
social groups that would have demanded employment, consumption, and power in
keeping with their educational levels. In the Caribbean, the colonial powers
had avoided this type of educational development; and in the case of higher
education, the reasons that led them to choose the socialization of local elites

in metropolitan universities is obvious

-jj.

While, in the independent stage, the English-speaking states of the Caribbean
expand opportunities for receiving intermediate and higher education, they are
doing so in accordance with a development plan, with different types of intermediate eduqation which are not equal as regards academic and social education,
which imply the expansion and controlled incorporation of new social strata. At
the same time, a functional relationship is established between the employment
market and education, whereby the former tends to recruit employees maintaining
the correlation of a hierarchy of certificates and degrees and a hierarchy of
employment. Consequently, education plays the role of an adjudication court of
social status.
In the case of Costa Rica, the policy of constraint was so evident that
the university was closed from 1888 to 1940, and intermediate education concentrated on teacher training. The stages subsequent to the 1948 revolution marked
the rise of urban middle-class social groups which, in a circular relationship
with the transformations in the economic structure and with the new duties of
the State, influenced the vigorous change in the orientation of the educational
system. Thus, in 1975, the gross school attendance rates were 50% in intermeJ
diate education, and 15% in higher education.
In all cases, the educational model would appear to be changing. However,
Paraguay is the country that maintains its previous orientation most strictly.
On the one hand, the output or primary education is very low, which implies a
lower demand for intermediate education; on the other, the countrys style of
development causes a greater subordination of the different variables to the
problems of power and a definite policy in terms of limited social participation.
As regards educational strategy, the State plays a dominant role in the
countries under study. The resulting educational styles cannot be explained by
the demands of the economic system which, as already mentioned, had and still
has limited differences in most of the countries. Neither is it possible to
refer to the income levels of societies and explain the education policy as a
result of prosperous economies, since the per capita income of three of the
countries are well below the regional averages, in opposition of the three
remaining countries, which are over. Not only is there economic disparity, but
in all structures there are problems characteristic of the economies of small
countries which produce a single primary product for exports.
It should be borne in mind that the democratizing effectiveness of a
policy which assigns priority to elementary education depends on the presence
of other democratizing factors in society. In this regard, education is one of
the agents that take part in the process, and its effects are significant when

*/ In accordance with the 1960 censuses of Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad
and Tobago, the persons who had obtained some degree of higher education in
relation to the total persons with some degree of completed study amounted to
0.4%, 0.3% and 0.5% respectively. Source: America en cifras, 1970. Situación
cultural. Educación y otros aspectos culturales, Table 501-04, Washington,
1971.

- xii -

they strengthen the rest of the social actions.
The countries under review only comprise a very small part of the population
of Latin America - approximately 2.7% of the total for the region; consequently,
their characteristics are not indicative of general trends. However, although
their quantitative weight may be small, these cases are significant inasmuch as
they carry an implicit political will in their educational development, particularly when compared with the situation prevailing in Latin America */.
In this context, L.D. Carringtons study contributes a number of facts
concerning the characteristics of the educational process in the English-speaking
countries of the Caribbean, and establishes its relationships with the economic
and social process at different levels of analysis.
The point of departure for the analysis is the long history lived by these
Countries under colonial conditions which accounts for the traits they have
inherited. These range from their configuration as small territorial scale
states to problems of integration in society of population of the most varied
ethnical and cultural contexts, which still preserve even different language
codes, transferred to those countries to supply the manpower requirements of the
colonial system.
The role of education in social integration is stressed by L.D. Carrington,
who points out not only the importance of the increased proportion of literate
citizens, but also the dissemination to the population as a whole of certain
levels of education formerly reserved for dominant social sectors protected by
the ruling powers.
However, his analysis does not stop at an elementary dimension of democratization, but serves as a starting point for considering the difference between
development plans and development philosophies, and for including a complex
analysis on the relationship between the educational system and the cultural
pattern of the metropolis, on the problem of the values transmitted by the
educational system and the need for- a democratic process. This enables him to
show the contradiction between still strongly agricultural economies and the
pedagogical orientation of the educational system toward codes and evaluations
of an intellectualistic type which are not only contrary to the social status of
large majorities but introduce a form of social and intellectual selection that
can affect the democratic building of the new nations.
Finally, the study contains a shrewd survey of statistical, programmatic
and educational policy data in the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean,
viewed for the first time from a regional angle.
The detailed description of situations and problems within the framework

Brazil is a clear example that development policies have not chosen
education as the major channel for social integration. The 1970 census reveals
that 7.5% of the people in the 20-24 age group had received 12 or more years of
schooling, which places them in the higher education level, while 29.8% had
received no type of education whatsoever.

- xiii -

of an analysis of development, also makes it possible for Latin American authorities and specialists in education to gain information and understanding of a
model of social and educational development with plenty of suggestions for the
Latin-speaking countries.

- xiv -

FOREWORD

The education systems and practices of the formerly British, English-speaking
Caribbean countries were originally transplanted from the United Kingdom during
the colonial period. Initially, the concern was for the education of expatriate
children who were expected either to be re-integrated into metropolitan society
or to fulfil purposes of the metropolis if they continued residence in the
colonies. Admission of non-expatriates at a later stage was primarily intended
to provide cadres of clerks and middle-order administrators or professionals whose
ultimate function would be determined by the metropolitan government or if not,
would be in keeping with that governments purposes. Change and development in
education in the colonies lagged far behind the home country, when developments
took place they were sporadically initiated, partial in their application to the
educational systems, and conceived as adjuncts to the metropolitan mainstream.
Prior to the development of representative government, expansion of the capacity
and range of the school system was related to increases in the needs of the
bureaucracy and to placatory responses to popular pressures for expansion of
opportunity.
In the period between the inception of representative government and
independence (or quasi-independence), managerial transfer to regional controllers
was effected. This transfer did not necessarily involve revision of the form,
content or aims of the systems. Where such revisions took place, continued
economic control by the metropolis effectively restricted the usable leeway for
re-orientation. Post-independence developments show that the patterns of borrowed
systems and practices continue to dominate education. Articulation of different
societal goals and of indigenously based developmental patterns has not substantially
affected the orientation as distinct from the range of education. If the influence
of these inconsistencies is not to be self-perpetuating, a searching study of
education for development must be undertaken.
As a step in the direction of such analysis, this study aims at providing a
concise summary of the state of education in the English-speaking countries of the
Caribbean in general but with special emphasis on Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and
Trinidad and Tobago. The state of education will be examined against the
background of the economic conditions and social directions of these countries
in such a manner as to highlight any functional relationships that exist between
education and development.
There is an important constraint that limits the fullness of the study. It
has been difficult to acquire statistical data which are at once recent, reliable
and comparable for all countries. Equally variable is the availability in
published form, of details on curricula in the region If. The reasons for this
are several. Firstly, most of the countries have only recently assumed
responsibility for their social and economic development and have relatively
recently established either statistical units, educational planning units or both.
Consequently, the range and accuracy of the published statistical information
varies from one country to another. Secondly, ministries of education and
1/ To some extent, the degree of data availability is a comment on the
attitudes of the regional governments towards their education planning.
- 1 -

statistical offices in the region
have different attitudes to the release of
information that is not yet published. Where some are willing to provide
unpublished information as recent as 1977, others commit themselves only to
published information.
Finally, government agencies differ in promptness of reply to correspondence.
Overcoming these restrictions would have required a much longer time for the
preparation of the study since it would have been necessary to extrapolate
considerable secondary information from restricted primary sources as well as
visit each country for periods which would have been impracticable 2/. However,
every reasonable effort has been made to reduce the adverse effects of the
unevenness of data by careful screening of available information.
A second limitation on the possible completeness of the study is that it does
not incorporate a historical review. Full appreciation of the rate of expansion
and evolution of the systems is only possible by reference to the history of
education and society in the region. However, in the case of this study, such an
inclusion risks a shift of its focus to a record of achievement rather than an
analysis of the current situation and its possible future orientation. The
historical background can be obtained from other studies which are listed in the
bibliography.
Basic indicators of the economies of the region are presented in the first
section along with brief summaries of the socio-political orientation of the
governments. This is followed by a survey of the labour force in the region with
particular emphasis on levels of employment and of education and training within
the labour force. Against this background, a survey of the formal provision for
education is provided. The whole is used as a referential base for critical
discussion of general and specific problems of education and development in the
region.
It is important to note that the study is not comparative in intent.
Comparisons are inevitably made but they are not the main goals of the work.

2/ Countries visited for data collection and verification purposes were
Antigua, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.

I.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

The states which comprise the English-speaking Caribbean are characterised
by economies based on the export of primary agricultural products and the
extraction of mineral raw materials. Expansion into processing and manufacturing
based on those primary products has been comparatively recent, slow and tied to
the expansion convenierce of multi-national corporations. The economies are highly
dependent upon the importation of manufactured goods (especially machinery and
food) from larger economies outside the region. Since the regions economic
history has been that of a plantation economy, there is little internal
integration, low capability for self-sustenance and a bias in favour of export
agriculture to the detriment of domestic agriculture. With the recent exception
of Trinidad and Tobago, the states are all plagued with serious deficits on their
balance of payments. Levels of unemployment and underemployment are sufficiently
high to constitute social and political problems which have thus far defied
solution.
Area and Population
The states range in size from Montserrat ( 39 sq. miles) to Guyana ( 83,000
sq. miles). Population sizes are not exactly in proportion to size however, and
range from Montserrats estimated 13,291 to Jamaicas 2,060,300 (1975 estimates).
Table 1 shows the area and population of each of the states which fall within
the scope of the study.
Crude population densities run from Guyanas extremely low 8.4 per square
mile to Barbados high of 1,557 per square mile. The contrast is mellowed when
one takes into account Guyanas 70,000 square miles of uninhabited forests which
force 86% of its inhabitants to be concentrated in the coastal area of the
country. By and large, the majority of the regions almost 5 million inhabitants
are rural dwellers, a fact which is significant in a study of education in the
region. Table 2 shows the relative proportions of the population that can be
described as urban in those states for which information is available.
Citation of figures in respect of population distribution must be tempered
by some awareness of how different the concept of urban must be in the case of
several of the smaller states by comparison with the urban agglomerations
characteristic of Port of Spain (Trinidad), Kingston and St. Andrew (Jamaica),
Bridgetown (Barbados), and Greater Georgetown (Guyana). Further, one should be
sensitive to the difference between rural dwellers with ready access to urban
centres and those whose rurality constitutes their total experience. In the
absence of readily available quantitative measures of such modifying considerations,
the figures of Table 2 must stand as a rough guide to population distribution.
The mixed nature of the regions population results from the importation of
African slaves, Indian indentured labourers and from immigration of various groups
of Europeans during the colonial period. The majority of the regions population
is of African descent. The notable exceptions are the cases of Guyana, Trinidad
and Tobago and Belize. According to the 1970 census figures in Guyana, 52% of
the population are of East Indian descent and 31% are of African origin. The
- 3 _

Table 1.

Area and population of English-speaking Caribbean states

State
Antigua  Barbuda
Barbados
Dominica
Grenada
Guyana
Jamaica
Montserrat
St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla
St. Lucia
St. Vincent
Trinidad S Tobago

Area
sq.miles

1970
population-

170
166
305
120
83,000
4,411
39
139
233
150
1,980

65,850237,701
70,513
93,858
701,885
1,848,512
11,698
45,608
100,893
87,305
940,719

Later
Estimates
70,52 0
258,500

...
.. .

2,060,300
13,291

2/

111,800
128,300
1,066,950

!¡/

.. .

Sources: a/ Census Research Programme,U.W.I.:1970 Population Census of the
Commonwealth Caribbean, Vol.3, Table A, p.2, 1973. b/ Government of Antigua:
Antigua Statistical Yearbook 1976, Statistics Division, Ministry of Finance, 1977.
c/ Barbados Statistical Services: Monthly Digest of Statistics, No.12, Dec. 1976,
Bridgetown, April 1977. d/ Government of Jamaica: Economic and Social Survey,
Jamaica 1975, National Planning Agency, Kingston, undated, e/ Government of
Montserrat: Fourth Statistical Digest 1976, Plymouth, undated, fj Government of
St. Lucia: Annual Statistical Digest 1975, Castries 1976. g/ Trinidad £ Tobago
Central Statistical Office: Population and Vital Statistics~1974 Report, Port of
Spain, 1977.

remaining 17% are comprised in descending order of numbers of persons of mixed
blood, Amerindian, Portuguese, Chinese and European descendants and a couple
hundred person of unspecified ethnicity. In Trinidad and Tobago, 42.8% of the
population is of African descent and they exceed only slightly the East Indian
population - 40.1% . The remainder of the population is distributed as follows:
Mixed - 14.2% , White (European) - 1.2% , Chinese - 0.9% , Other - 0.8% . In
Belize, it is the group classified as Mixed which is the largest - 32.8% ,
while the population of African descent stands at 30.7% . Amerindians comprise
18.6% of the
population. The category Other stands at 11.4% , while the
remaining 3.7% is comprised of Whites, smaller proportions of East Indians,
Chinese and other groups.

- 4 _

Table 2.

Urban population - English-speaking Caribbean
(percentages)

Country
33.7
b/
3.7 (54.3)-

Antigua £ Barbuda
Barbados
Dominica
Grenada
Guyana
Jamaica
Montserrat
St. Kitts-Nevis
St. Lucia
St. Vincent
Trinidad £ Tobago

40.0
37.1
11.1

34.1
n. a
n.a
12.4 (45.0)-

Sources: a/ United Nations Demographic Yearbook 1975, New York 1976, Table 6.
Figures based on 1970 census except where indicated to the contrary.The definition
of urban differs from one country to the other but the following information
indicates what the figuresrepresent. Antiguas figures are based on the population
of St. Johns; Barbados on Bridgetown alone (see note b/); Jamaica on Kingston and
the metropolitan area together with selected main towns; Montserrat on the town of
Plymonth. The basis for Guyana and St. Kitts-Nevis is not available. See note d/ for
Trinidad and Tobago, b/ If one includes the parishes of St. Michael and Christchurch
which are, for all practical purposes, the major part of the urban complex, the figure
would be 54.3%. c/ U.W.I. Development mission: The economic and social development of
Grenada, unpublished, ISER, 1968. d/ Harewood (1975) includes the special urban areas
west of Port of Spain and along the Eastern Main Road strip. This inclusion provides
the much more realistic figure of 45% based on the 1960 census.

External trade and its direction
The strong dependence of the economies from the commercial exchange is a
visible manifestation of the colonial past of the region. The agriculture basis
of all of them, mining for exportation and, recently in Trinidad, the discovery
of new oil reserves, draw a panorama with large opening in relation with the
foreign trade. This high sensibility of the performance of the internal economy
to commercial exchange shows how convenient the analysis and the direction of the
trade are, in order to consider afterwards its Contribution to form the GDP in the
different countries of the region.
5

The vast majority of the trade of the region is with countries outside the
region. Prior to the last decade, intra-regional trade was marginal in size.
Three agreements involving trading and other self-protective collaboration among
governments of the region 3/ , have substantially affected the volume of intraregional trade actitivy. Despite this, both the import and export sectors
continue to be dominated by foreign trade. In 1967, the year immediately prior
to the first of these agreements, the entire region imported EC$1.86 billion of
which only EC$88 million (roughly 5% ) was from within the region. On the
export side of the sheeet, of a total export figure of EC$1.4 billion, only
EC$81
million (less than 6% ) was within the region. By comparison in 1974,
immediately after the third agreement,intra-regional trade accounted for 7% of
a total EC$7.14 billion of imports and 7% of an export figure of EC$6.29
billion. Despite therefore the obvious increase in the value of goods moving
within the region, there is hardly a dent in the direction of overall movement of
trade. Tables 3 and 4 show for the four major countries the direction of
trade, for the years 1967 and 1974.

Table 3.

Direction of trade

Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad £ Tobago, 1967 and 1974
(Percentage of total imports)

Year

U.S.A.

U.K.

Canada

1967
1974

19.6
19.4

28.6
20.5

12.5
9.1

11.7
18.5

10.0
17.3

Guyana

1967
1974

27.6
•25.7

25.5
20.5

11.0
4.9

12.0
27.0

11.4
26.5

Jamaica

1967
1974

39.0
35.3

19.9

11.4
5.4

3.3
10.7

1.5
7.6

Trinidad £ Tobago

1967
1974

16.3
10.6

14.5

5.2
2.2

2.4
2.1

2.2
1.6

Country

Barbados

12.4
5.5

Caribbean of which
CARICOM

Source : CARICOM Digest of Trade Statistics, September 1976.

Traditional export trade has been founded on agricultural products . Sugar, rum
and molasses together have been part of the regions history and in the cases of
Jamaica, Guyana, Barbados, St. Kitts and Trinidad and Tobago continue to be
important money earners. Banana production is a major economic support to the
economies of Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Dominica. In addition,
3/

Caribbean Free Trade Association 1968-71 (CARIFTA)
Eastern Caribbean Common Market - 1968
Caribbean Community Agreement - 1973 (CARICOM)
- 6

_

Table 4.

Direction of trade

Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad Ê Tobago, 1967 and 1974
(Percentage of total exports)

Country

Year

U.S.A.

Barbados

1967
1974

17.9
36.4

Guyana

1967
1974

Jamaica
Trinidad £ Tobago

U.K.

Canada

Caribbean

54.4
19.8

8.6
7.4

12.9
26.2

10.4
24.2

23.3
25.2

24.5
20.9

18.6
4.5

11.7
12.1

10.4
11.2

1967
1974

40.0
46.6

26.3
15.6

13.9
4.6

5.4
5.5

2.7
4.4

1967
1974

38.8
60.2

12.7
2.3

4.4
1.3

14.3
19.0

5.9
7.1

of which
CARICOM

Source : CARICOM Digest of Trade Statistics, September 1976.

each country has a number of specialities which constitute part of its export
trade (e.g. citrus, coffeee and pimento in Jamaica, citrus in Dominica, cotton in
Antigua, cocoa, nutmeg and spices in Grenada, cocoa and citrus in Trinidad and
Tobago). By far the most important intra-regional agricultural export is Guyanas
supply of rice to the region.
Twentieth century exploitation of mineral resources has diversified the
export trade of Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Both Guyana and Jamaica
rely very heavily on export of bauxite and alumina for their financial survival.
The petroleum and natural gas resources of Trinidad and Tobago provide products
which dominate that countrys export activity. This dominance has been exaggerated
within this decade by the world demand for fuel and anxiety over its continued
availability. The pattern of regional economic expansion has involved provision
of favourable investment conditions for several multi-national corporations and a
large number of foreign companies. Their interest in relatively cheap labour has
combined with the desire of regional governments to show development with highly
visible technology to produce an increasing number of both heavy and light assembly
and processing industries. These contribute in varying degrees to the export
trade of the region but their importance is reduced by the fact that many of the
raw materials are themselves imported.
The most significant imports of the countries of the region are fuels,
chemicals, food, machinery and equipment. In all of the countries, except Trinidad
and Tobago, importation of fuels is mainly for consumption and resale. In Trinidad
and Tobago, such imports are for refining and re-export at arguable gain to the
economy.
In 1975, the value of Barbados domestic exports amounted to BD$178.2 million
out of a total export of BD$217.9
million. Compared to this, imports amounted
- 7 _

to BDS$437.2 million, giving a deficit on balance of visible trade of BDS$219.3
million. Sugar, molasses and rum accounted for 62.4% of total domestic exports.
The following table gives an indication of that countrys exports with percentages
of total domestic exports.

Table 5.

Barbados - Selected domestic exports of total domestic exports, 1975
(Million of BPS dollars and percentages)

Commodity

Level

%

Sugar

95.1

53.4

Molasses and syrup

11.8

6.6

Rum

4.3

2.4

Lard and margarine

2.4

1.4

Biscuits

1.4

0.8

Sugar confectionery

0.4

0.2

Phonograph records

1.1

0.6

Electrical parts n.e.s.

7.6

4.3

Crustacea and molluscs

3.1

1.7

26.8

15.1

1.8

1.0

155.8

87.4

22.4

12.6

178.2

100.0

Clothing
Petroleum products
Total selected domestic exports
Total other domestic exports

Jamaicas domestic exports for 1975 totalled J$699.4 million out a total
export of J$712.7 million. Imports amounted to J$l,021.4 million creating a
deficit on visible trade of J$308.7 million. As an example of the importance
of fuels and raw materials in the import structure of the region it is useful to
note that they constituted 48% of Jamaicas imports. Food accounted for 21% ,
transport equipment, other machinery and equipment comprised 21% of the total.
On the export side of the balance sheet, sugar, alumina and bauxite accounted for
- 8 _

84.9% of total exports, with sugar having a share of 20% . In the agricultural
sector (primary products), bananas exceeded all other export crops. Under semiprocessed products, sugar fetched J$139.7 million. The actual value of bauxite
and alumina exported was J$453.8 million. Most of the manufactured goods
exported were based on agricultural products.
Since 1974, Trinidad and Tobago has had substantial surpluses on its balances
of visible trade. In 1975, the country exported in excess of TT$3.8 billion with
an import bill of TT$3.2 billion. Actual figures are shown in Table 6 .

Table 6.

Trinidad £ Tobago.

Exports and imports

(Thousands of Trinidad £ Tobago dollars)

Year

Domestic
Exports

ReExports

Total
Exports

Total
Imports

1974

3,933,851

228,913

4,162,764

3,774,892

387,872

1975

3,839,390

35,769

3,875,159

3,239,216

635,942

1976^/

5,331,556

61,962

5,393,518

4 ,826,937

566,581

Source: Central Statistical Office:
1976 Port of Spain, 1977 (Table 1 ).
a/

Balance of
visible trade

Quarterly Economic Report, Oct.-Dec.

Provi s ional.

This healthy state of transactions relates directly to.capitalization on the
fuel crisis and recent discovery of additional reserves of petroleum and natural
gas within the country and its exploitable territorial waters. A look at the
preceding years shows deficits of TT$287.6 million in 1971, TT$399.6 million
in 1972 and TT$189.1 million in 1973. The major part of the exports of the
country are petroleum (crude and refined), petroleum products and petrochemicals.
Table 7 shows the contrast between the earnings from this sector and earnings
from all agricultural based exports.
for

Within the agricultural export figures, sugar and molasses were responsible
TT$168.3 and TT$124.6 in 1975 and 1976 respectively.

Petroleum for refining and petroleum products also dominate the imports of
Trinidad and Tobago, for its refining capacity is far in excess of its local
production. In 1975, imports of crude and partially refined petroleum and
petroleum products amounted to TT$1.64 billion and in 1976 to TT$2.7 billion.
In addition, importation of industrial machinery, of which a large portion was
for the petroleum industry, amounted to TT$190.2 million and TTS306.0 million
in 1975 and 1976 respectively.

- 9_

Table 7.

Trinidad and Tobago.

Exports of petroleum sector vs. agricultural sector
(Thousands of Trinidad S Tobago dollars)

Year

Petroleum
crude and
partly refined

Petroleum
products

Petrochemicals

Total
petroleum

Agricultural
products

1974

263,940

2,532,081

64,896

2,860,917

137,278

1975

1,439,140

1,925,758

45 ,283

3,410,181

201,833

1976

1,820,156

3,063,918

63,967

4,948,041

158,777

Source:
Central Statistical Office:
1976 Port of Spain, 1977. (Tables 6 and

Quarterly Economic Report Oct.-Dec.
23 ).

Goods for use in the assembly of motor vehicles and electrical equipment,
together with finished electrical equipment were also major items in both years
amounting to TT$131.7 million in 1975 and TT.$187.5 million in 1976. Imports
of food amounted to TT$186.9 million and TT$205.7 million in the years under
reference. When one considers that in 1975 only 12% , and in 1976 only 8.2%
of the exports of Trinidad and Tobago were not derived from oil, it becomes clear
that, more than any other country, Trinidad and Tobago can be considered to have
a non-agricultural mineral export economy.
The point is even more strongly made by removing the trade in petroleum
from the trading accounts. The Ministry of Finance (1976) puts it as follows:
The dominating influence of the petroleum sector is highlighted when the
trade in all petroleum products is removed from the trading accounts. In
this non-oil account which mirrors the performance of the other sectors of
the economy, the deficit has been growing steadily from $238.2 mn in 1969
to $502 mn in 1973 and on to $655.6 mn in 1974, with a jump to $1,101.5
$1,101.5 mn in 1975. It is acknowledged that imports of machinery etc.
into the petroleum sector are included in this non-oil account. However,
the sizes of the deficits have been so increasingly large that they portend
gloom for the rest of the economy. 4/ .
Like Jamaica, Guyanas export of bauxite and alumina is a major part of its
trade earnings. Similarly, sugar dominates the agricultural sector. In 1975 5/ ,
Guyanas exports totalled G$848.2 million of which sugar accounted for
4/ Ministry of Finance. Trinidad and Tobagn:
Port of Spain, Dec. 1976, p.64.

Review of the economy 1976,

5/ Source: Statistical Bureau: Quarterly Statistical Digest September 1976,
Georgetown, 1976.
- 10 _

G$ 413.1 million, almost half, and bauxite contributed G$262.9 million ( 31%).
Rice was the other major export with a total value of G$84.8 million. In the
same year, imports amounted to G$810.6
million leaving a favourable surplus of
G$ 37.5 million on the balance of visible trade. The largest single item in the
import bill was machinery and transport equipment ( $239.1 m). Manufactured goods
($192 m) and fuels and lubricants ( $135.0 m) are the two other items which dominate
the import sector. The 1976 external trade of Guyana was less favourable. The
deficit of G$242.6 million resulted from an import bill of G$927.5 million,
and an export outrun of $684.9 million. No complete breakdown of sectors of
export or import is available for 1976. For purposes of comparison of the external
trade of the four larger economies, Table 8 presents the values of imports,
exports and balances converted to a common currency (US$).

Table 8.

Exports, imports and trade balances.

Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad S Tobago
a/
(Thousands of United States dollars)—

Total
Exports

Country

Imports

Balance

Barbados

1974
1975
1976

86.2
109.0
n.a.

208.8
219.0
n.a.

-122.6
-210.0
n.a.

Guyana

1974
1975
1976

236.2
332.6
268.5

222.4
317.8
363.7

13.8
14.8
-95.2

Jamaica

1974
1975
1976

730.1
783.1
n.a.

934.9
1,122.4
n.a.

-204.8
-339.3
n.a.

Trinidad S Tobago

1974
1975
1976

1,734.5 •
1,614.4
2,247.2

1,572.8
1,349.6
2,011.2

161.7
264.8
236.0

a/

At current rates of exchange.

Table 9 shows the comparative imports , exports and balance of visible trade
for 1975 of the regions smaller economies. Apart from transactions related to
the refining of petroleum in Antigua, all of the other export activity of the
countries listed relates to agricultural products. Manufacturing and processing
of goods are a small part of the export sector. Without exception the countries
listed live with deficits on their external trade.

- 11 _

Table 9.

Imports, exports and balances 1975

(Thousands of United States dollars)—^

Imports

Total
Exports

Balance

Antigua

46,976.3

22,144.4

-24,831.9

Belize

54,591.0

47,500.0

— 7,091.0

Dominica

16,680.0

9,128.5

- 7,551.5

Grenada

13,733.0

7,135.2

- 6,597.8

Montserrat

6,127.4

377.4

- 5,750.0

St. Lucia

37,194.0

12,760.3

-24,433.7

St. Vincent

23,070.3

5,888.8

-17,181.5

Country

a/

Converted from citation in local currencies at current rates of exchange.

Government Revenue and Expenditure
Imbalances between government revenue and expenditure are characteristic of
the region. All of the governments seek financial assistance either through
grants-in-aid or loans on the international market. Trinidad and Tobago is the
least dependent upon such sources of revenue. Although it borrows internationally
for large scale capital investment, it readily meets its own recurrent expenditure
and has provided financial assistance to other regional governments. The Associated
States can be viewed as chronically short of revenue and essentially operating at
subsistence levels- Jamaica and Guyana are in serious financial distress without
short-term likelihood of alleviation of their predicament.. Barbados is perhaps
less critically affected by financial difficulties than Jamaica and Guyana but its
situation cannot be considered to be healthy. Table 10 shows the 1976 revenue
and expenditure of the regions governments expressed in US currency for ease of
comparison.
- 12-

Table 10. Government

revenue and expenditure

(Millions of United States dollars)

Country

Year

Revenue
a/
Recurrent

Expenditure
Recurrent

Expenditure
Capital

1975
1976

96.95
100.85

87.65
103.30

22.35
26.25

1975

1976^./

191.14
149.14

126.43
185.33

101.29
126.50

Jamaica

1975
1976

622.63
690.00

691.86
786.92

361.31
468.35

Trinidad £ Tobago

1975
1976

720.70
841.83

316.79
392.20

420.20
504.37

Antigua

1975

13.24
13.40

1.35
n.a.

7.45
8.74

1.42
5.83

2.94

1.56

3.13

2.16

8.14

8.12

1.57

12.37

n.a.

n.a.

10.65
12.48

12.68
13.06

9.41
10.51

8.81
9.93

0.82
4.92

Barbados

Guyana

1976
1975

Dominica

1.77)^-7
12.91
13.40

(1.59)—7

1976

St. Kitts-NevisAnguilla

1975

(0.66)

1976

Montserrat

7.19
6.43

2.70
(0.98)- 7
3.05

1975
1976

1975

St. Lucia

1976
St. Vincent

1975
1976

a/

a/

/
(1.16)-

(0.95)- 7
8.84

n.a.

Bracketed figures represent grants-in-aid.

b/ Provisional.

Note: Capital revenue is not available.

Gross Domestic Product
Comparison of the economies of the various states of the region shows the same
wide contrast as examination of their population and sizes.
Regrettably
- 13 _

Table 11.

Gross Domestic Product

at current factor cost, 1976

(Millions of United Stages dollars -/)
Antigua and Barbuda

44.2

Barbados

334.4

Dominica



22.6

Grenada

37.2-

Guyana

411.8

Jamaica

3,044.8

Montserrat

9.0

St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla

30.3

St. Lucia

44.0

St. Vincent

25.1

Trinidad £ Tobago

2,065.5

Source: ECLA: Economic Activity in Caribbean Countries 1976, Port of Spain,
1977.
a/ Converted from local currency,
b/ 1976 not available-, 1975 figure cited.

Table 12. Comparative growth of GDP,
Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Selected Years
(percentages)

1972-73

1973-74

Guyana

8.9

50.0

22.5

-1.0

Jamaica

20.3

28.5

18.1

4.1

Trinidad and Tobago

19.0

40.4

32.0

15.3

«

1974-75-

1975-76-

Source: ECLA: Economic Activity in Caribbean Countries 1976, Port of
Spain 1977.
a/ Provisional,
b/

Estimated.

- 14 _

unavailable are comparable quotations of Net National Income which, in view of the
fact that much of the regions Gross Domestic Product is generated by foreign
investment, would have been a most revealing statistic. It is worthwhile noting
that although Jamaicas GDP is one and a half times that of Trinidad, its
population is more than twice as large. Table 11 shows the comparative GDP at
current factor cost of those countries of the region for which data are available.
Comparison of contribution of industrial sectors to GDP is made a little awkward
by differences in the headings under which information is collated. Lack of
detail.in the case of Barbados (see Table 13 ) is unfortunate. However,
reference to the Development Plan 1973-76 6/ indicates (pp. 1-8) that
the period 1960-1972 the contribution of sugar declined from 21.3% to 7 7%
Over the same period, manufacturing and mining increased from 8.3% to 12.2%
The implication that the country is moving from dependence orr sugar should not
however be extended to mean movement away from agriculture. Table 13 shows
sectoral contribution to the GDP of Barbados.
Table 13.

Barbados:

Contribution to GDP of sectors
(percentages)

1973^

1974-7

7.1

8.7

11.3

7.4

Distribution

25.0

24.7

22.5

22.2

Government

16.6

16.4

15.9

16.1

Other

51.3

50.2

50.3

53.8

Sectors
Sugar

1975-7

1976-7

Source : ECLA (1977) op. cit.
aj ECLA preliminary estimate,
b/ Revised.

In the case of Guyana (see Table 14),it is clear that activity in agriculture
fishing and forestry is of great sigiiificance. The mining and quarrying sector
is dominated by bauxite which also accounts for a substantial part of the
manufacturing sector.
Sectoral contribution in Jamaica (see Table 15 ) appears to be more balanced
than in the case of Guyana or Trinidad and Tobago (see Table 16 ). In Jamaica,
the largest single area is manufacturing. Part of this sector however, is based
on bauxite mining which accounts for the majority of the mining and quarrying
sector.
Reliance of Trinidad and Tobago on activity in the petroleum industry is
clearly evidenced by Table 16 . Of all four of the regions major economies it
is the least dependent on agriculture in terms of its GDP.
6/ Government of Barbados:

various pagination.

Development Plan 1973-//.
- 15 _

Bridgetown, undated,

Table 14.

Guyana:

Contribution to GDP of industrial sectors.
(percentages)

Sectors

1973

1974

1975-l-/

Agriculture
16.2
Fishing
• 1.2
Forestry
1.0
Mining £ Quarrying
14.0
Manufacturing
11.2
Transport £ Communication
6.4
Engineering £ Construction
8.2
Distribution
11.2
Rental of dwellings - Financial and other services
9.7
Government
21.0

28.0
1.2
0.9
13.5
14.0
5.1
6.2
8.9
7.4
14.9

30.2
1.1
0.9
12.8
14.2
5.2
6.4
8.8
6.7
13.7

Source:

ECLA (1977) op. cit.

a/ Provisional

Table 15.

Jamaica: Contribution to GDP of industrial sectors,
purchasers values, current cost
(percentages)

Sectors

1973

Agriculture
Mining, quarrying  refining
Manufacturing
Construction £ installation
Distributive trades
Producers of government services
Electricity and water
Transportation,storage £ communication
Financial institutions
Real estate
Household £ private
(non-profit institution)
Miscellaneous
Less imputed service charge

1974

1975

1976

7.3
8.5
16.7
12.4
18.9
10.6
1.1
6.7
4.2
8.5

7.2
13.2
16.8
11.6
16.2
11.2
1.0
6.0
4.2
8.0

7.6
10.2
17.1
11.5
17.0
12.3
1.4
5.9
4.0
8.1

8.3
8.7
19.5
9.3
13.9
13.8
2.1
6.2
4. 7
9.1

2.0
6.1
3.0

1.8
5.8
2.9

1.9
5.9
2.9

2.0
5.8
3.3

Source : ECLA (1977) op. cit.
- 16

_
*

Table 16.

Trinidad £ Tobago:

Contribution to GDP of industrial sectors
(percentages)

Sectors

1973

1974

5.0

5.7

5.7-

5.1

Mining £ refining of petroleum,
asphalt £ gas

22.5

30.9

36.1-

31.5

Manufacturing

17.8

14.7

12.7

13.8

Construction

5.3

5.0

4.9

5.8

Transport £ distribution

17.3

15.2

13.8-

13.5

Government

12.5

12.1

11.6

12.9

16.4

15.3—

17.3

Agriculture, fishing and forestry

Public utilities
Ownership of dwellings
Banking and finance
Other services

)
)
)
)

1975

1976

4.9
g

Source: Draft Third Five-Year Plan 1969-73, and ECLA staff estimates.
also dependency ratios in Appendix I, page 97.

See

a/ Revised
Comparable details of sectoral activity are not available for other countries
in the region.
Tourism
The possession of relaxing vacationing resources which appeal to travellers
from temperate climates has to be viewed as a natural resource of the Caribbean
region. The importance of tourism as a source of foreign exchange is demonstrated
by its contribution to an economy as large as that of Jamaica 7/ . In 1975,
estimated expenditure by tourists was J$116.8 million, a figure which placed
the tourist sector third as an earner of foreign exchange for Jamaica after
bauxite/alumina and sugar. Indeed, in 1974 the industry brought in J$121.2
million and was second only to bauxite/alumina as a source of foreign exchange.
Employment generated directly and indirectly by tourism is of primary importance
too. In 1975, 9,423 persons were directly employed by tourism. An equal
number of persons were indirectly employed by this sector. Barbados is also
highly dependent on successful tourism. In 1972, an estimated tourist
expenditure of $120.0 million BDS represented 34% of the countrys GDP.
According to the 1970 census, 4,069 persons were employed directly in the hotel
7/ National Planning Agency:
Kingston 1976.

Economic and Social Survey Jamaica 1975,

- 17 _

industry. In 1976, 222,000
exchange for Barbados 8/ .

visitors provided

BDS$165.4

million in foreign

Of the Associated States 9/ , Antigua has the largest trade in tourism.
Earnings in 1973 were EC$15.7 million from 72,786 visitors and in 1974
EC$ 12.2 million from 69,854 visitors. St. Lucias tourist industry has been
growing and between 1973 and 1976 its trade has grown from 45,809 visitors
spending EC$8.7 million to 56,440 visitors spending an estimated EC$13.3
million. Estimates for 1974 for all of the Associated States indicate that
180 000 visitors spent $16.3 million (US). It should be noted that an
extremely large part of expenditure by tourists leaks out of the economy and
does not necessarily produce economic results in proportion to its size.
Political Status and Orientation
All of the English-speaking Caribbean states were British colonies for the
most recent part of their European attachments. The periods differ considerably
but for all practical purposes relevant to education the effect is roughly similar.
Barbados endured uninterrupted British ownership from 1624, Jamaica from 1655.
By comparison, Guyanas 1803 acquisition and Trinidads 1797 capture by the
British are relatively recent. Five of the states are at the time of writing
autonomous sovereign states - Barbados (from 1966), Grenada (from 1975), Guyana
(from (1966), Jamaica (from 1962), and Trinidad and Tobago (from 1962). All the
other countries, except Montserrat, which remains a colony, are currently
described as independent states in association with the United Kingdom or more
briefly, Associated States, the most modern British label for self-governing
protectorates. Of these states, Dominica and St. Lucia are negotiating their
full independence. Of the sovereign states, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago have
adopted republican constitutions, the former in 1970 and the latter in 1976. All
•the others recognize H.M. Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain as titular head of
state within the understandings of the British Commonwealth.
All of the constitutions of the states of the region provide for what is known
in western hemisphere political jargon as freely elected constitutional
governments. Given the imprecision of ideological labels, it seems advisable to
attach a label to a state only where the government of the state applies the label
to itself.
In Guyana, the ruling political party since 1964 has been the Peoples
National Congress which as early as 1955 declared itself a socialist party. In
pursuance of this position, the party and the government enunciated in April 1970
the principle of ownership and control of resources by Guyanese. The Government,
not without some tactical resistance, has gradually taken control of several major
exploitative concerns. In 1971, the Demerara Bauxite Company, a subsidiary of the
Aluminium Company of Canada (ALCAN) was nationalized as Guyana Bauxite Company;
in 1972, Guyana Timbers passed into public control; in 1973, the Government
assumed ownership of all idle ur unused land held by sugar companies; in January

Part

8/ Data source: ECLA: Economic Activity 1976 in Caribbean countries» •
X , p. 18 , Table VI .
9/

ECLA:

op. cit. Pt. Ill , p. 19 , Table
_ 18 _

VI .

1975, Reynolds Mines at Kwakwani were acquired under the name Bermine; in May
1975 Jessels Holdings (Demerara Company Limited) were nationalized as Demerara
Sugar Company Limited. Finally, in May 1976, Guyana acquired all the holdings,
interests and properties of Booker Brothers (Booker McConnell). This last act
ended the cruel joke that Guyana (formerly British Guiana) had remained Bookers
Guiana in spite of its independence.
Jamaica has been governed since 1972 by the Peoples National Party which
from its inception in 1938 was viewed (in.terms of the day) as leftist. Prior
to the most recent election in 1976, the party stated that it was committed to
democratic socialism. The recency.of this declaration does not permit full
assessment of the Governments interpretation of the label. It is worth noting
however that the state has recently purchased the interests of a major
international commercial bank in Jamaica. A number of hotels have also recently
been purchased by the Jamaican Government, but these purchases appear to relate
more to maintenance of employment in the face of threatened closure than to
pursuance of a policy of nationalization of means of production. The government
also has investments in a variety of commercial enterprises as part or main
share-holder. By contrast with Guyana where the Opposition Party, the Peoples
Progressive Party, is itself committed to socialism, Jamaicas socialist
orientation may be co-terminous with the life of the present Government, for its
Opposition Party, the Jamaica Labour Party, eschews that philosophy.
The Government of Trinidad and Tobago does not apply a specific label to
itself. The ruling party, the Peoples National Movement, has been in power since
1956. Public utilities and public transport are operated by state-owned
corporations. In the area of petroleum, the government owns 50.1% shares in
one company, Trinidad-Tesoro, fully owns Trintoc (The Trinidad and Tobago Oil
Company) and controls the distribution of petroleum products through National
Petroleum. Several ventures in oil exploration and exploitation have been jointly
undertaken by the government and various multi-national corporations. All of the
sugar companies are now owned by the government. Besides this, the government
through various public corporations, notably the Industrial Development Corporation,
has shares in a numher of other enterprises. One commercial bank is also wholly
owned by the government. It should be noted that the Trinidad and Tobago
governments involvement in sugar and oil partially relates to a period of civil
unrest in 1970 and did not constitute a policy prior to those pressures.
The continued existence of extremely large multi-national corporations in the
petroleum and industrial sector and of others, including nationally based
conglomerates in other sectors would suggest that despite its increasing
involvement in commercial and industrial enterprise, the Government of Trinidad
and Tobago would be best viewed as a participant in a capitalist market. The
countrys recently realized petroleum riches have also invited comments that it
has some traits of a neo-imperialist mini-power within the Caribbean region.
In Barbados, neither the recently elected (1976) Government, the Barbados
Labour Party, nor its opponent the Democratic Labour Party, has applied an
internationally understood label to itself. Government participation in commercial
activity is small and little of the political rhetoric of the major political
groups points to shift from association with private enterprise.

_ 19

_

The position in the Associated States and Grenada is more akin to that of
Barbados than to the other independent states. Political isms of a contentious
nature (i.e. which are counter to the status quo) are not seriously pursued. The
restricted resources of the governments and their continued dependence on grantsin-aid from Canada and the United Kingdom nullify the importance of ideological
positions that may be inimical to the continued free hand of the private investor
Nevertheless, in both Dominica and St. Kitts.political statements of government
officials make reference to the socialist positions of the government. Actions
in keeping with such statements are too few to permit evaluation.
Summary
The preceding sections provide a summary view of state of the economies of
the region under survey. It is clear that in gross terms, financial resources
are restricted. In addition, the generative capacity of the economies is linked
to sensitive areas - subject to variations related to climatic variation as well
as to fluctuations of international markets; light industry and processing based
either on agriculture or imported raw and semi-finished goods; oil (in Trinidad
alone) currently strong and possibly so for some time but still linked to
international politics and technological control of external agencies. Furthermore, since almost all the economies can be described as open (Guyana is a possible
exception), the proportion of the economic gains within the societies that can be
mobilized for public purposes is restricted. Distribution of incomes within the
societies is provably sufficiently unequal to constitute the source of substantial
hindrance to the rate and scope of development. Continued foreign ownership and/
or control of the major productive sectors of the economies reduces the flexibility
and freedom of governments.

- 20 _

II.

LABOUR FORCE

Comparison and description of the labour force in different Caribbean States
is made awkward by differences in frequency, thoroughness and methodology of
surveys conducted by different governments 10/.
The only detailed study of the
labour force which offers comparability for almost every country is by Abdullah
(1977) 11/ , but that study is based on analysis of statistics provided by the
censuses of 1960 and 1970. Nevertheless, its scope is wide enough that the
analyses are still important indicators for the labour force.
Employment and unemployment in the region fluctuate in relation to the
seasonal nature of the demand for labour in the agricultural sector. Equally
important is the seasonal demand of the tourist industry. Unemployment and underemployment related to this seasonality is considerable. Unemployment attributable
to lack of skills required in the labour market is linked to two factors: firstly,
the rate of change from unskilled labour to partially or fully skilled manpower
needed in various sectors of the economy; secondly, to a failure in the orientation
of the educational systems to produce skills in proportion to labour demands in the
productive sectors of the economy. This latter observation directs attention to
unemployability within Caribbean societies. The traditional post-plantation values
attached to white collar professional, clerical and scribal activities generate
unrealistic desires within the labour force which cannot be sustained by the
impoverished nature of the economies. Further, in addition to fostering these
values and desires, much of the established education creates the clearly erroneous
expectation that such desires can be fulfilled within the society. Consequently,
there is a considerable section of the labour force which does not seek employment
in sectors in which it may be available. At the same time, the supply of persons
with such desires, expectations and qualifications exceeds the absorptive capacity
of the sector which can use such skills. The result is unemployability.
Jamaica
Jamaicas publication in 1976 of a statistical study of its labour force 12/
is the most up-to-date on the labour force anywhere in the region and deserves
detailed attention. The estimated total population of the country at the end of
the October 1975 survey period was 2,048,300 . Of that total, 40.4% were under
14
years old, leaving an over- 14 population of 1,220,500 . (Compare 1970,
46.1 % under 15 ; /Abdullah (1977) Table 2_/. The labour force was estimated
at 869,400 persons or 42.4% of the total population and 71.2% of the
population aged 14 years and over. Within the labour force, 685,100 persons
( 78.8% ) were employed leaving 184,300 ( 21.2% ) unemployed. It is important
10/ Harewood, (1975 b) discusses the effects of differences of definition
of unemployment and survey method on the results of surveys of employment.
11/ Abdullah, N: The Labour Force in the Commonwealth Caribbean: A Statistical Analysis. I.S.E.R., St. Augustine, 1977.
12/ Jamaica Department of Statistics: The Labour Force 1975. Kingston 1976.
See also National Planning Agency: Economic and Social Survey Jamaica 1975. pp.
283 - 294 .
- 21 _

to examine more closely the age group 1 4 - 2 4 (i.e. recent school leavers in
the earliest category of the labour force). The participation rate in October
1975 of the 14 - 24 age group was calculated at 57.5% . The total 14 - 24
labour force of 242,700 had only 150,600 employed persons in it. The rate of
unemployment 13/ then was 38% in that age group, the highest for any group.
Of particular concern is.the disparity between male and female unemployed in this
group - the rate of unemployment for.males was 25.3% and for females 52.2% .
In the general labour force the unemployment rate for men was 12.1% of the male
force and 31.9% of the female force.
An alarmingly high proportion of the labour force ( 83.4% ) had received no
specific training for the jobs which they held or sought. Table 17 shows the
labour force by training received.

Table 17.

Jamaica:

Labour force by training received

%
869,400

100.00

Vocational training - no certificate

11,900

1.37

Vocational training - certificate

29,500

3.39

Professional - no degree or diploma

14,600

1.67

Professional - degree or diploma

22,100

2.54

8,500

0.97

46,700

5.37

No training

725,400

83.43

Not stated

10,700

1.23

Total labour force

Apprenticeship
On-the-job training

Source: Table 2.3 , p. 26
Statistics, Kingston, 1976.

of The Labour Force 1 Q7R, Honan-(-mon+ of
—
1—~

It is clear that the labour force does not haye anywhere near a reasonable level
of training. Study of Table 18 by comparison with Table 17 is instructive.
As one would expect the highest proportion of the unemployed falls in the no
training category ( 89.36% ). What is disturbing though is that of the section
of the labour force which had vocational training (no certificate) unemployment
was higher than in the sector which had no training ( 36.97% was compared to
22.7 % ). Furthermore, workers who had been trained in apprenticeship schemes
V ^ H ^ V i r o  imomnl^7TTiDn+
il
fthY»
( OQ .11  / I.ÜU11 L11WQC VVJLl.ll 11U L i-d _L-LUg .
\ — ~ 1—• v
•
i1
13/ Definition of an unemployed person - one who had no job but wanted
work and was available to accept a job, whether or not this person actively sought
one, p. 8 of The Labour Force 1975.
- 22 _

Table 18.

Jamaica:

Unemployed labour force by training received

Number

Training

% of total
Unemployed

% of Labour
Force in
Category

Vocational - no certificate

4,400

2.38

36.97

Vocational - certificate

5,300

2.87

17.96

Professional - no degree or diploma

300

0.16

2.05

Professional - degree or diploma

400

0.21

1.80

Apprenticeship

2,500

1.36

29.41

On-the-job training

5,000

2.71

10.70

164,700

89.36

22.70

1,700

0.92

15.88

No training
Not stated

184,300

Total
Source :

Table

4.10

of The Labour Force, Jamaica 1975.

i
i


i
I
I

The levels of the labour force are presented in Table




19 .

Table 19. Labour Force, employed and unemployed
highest level of education attained

Not
Employed

% not
Employed

Total in
Labour
Force

% in Total
Labour
Force

Employed

37,500

4.31

33,700

3,800

10.13

Primary

696,600

80.12

539,300

157,300

22.58

Post-primary

124,800

14.35

103,400

21,400

17.14

Other

4,100

0.47

3,100

1,000

24.39

Not required

6,400

0.73

5,600

800

12.50

685,100

184,300

1
i


I
,
I
/

*

No formal education

Total
Source:

869,400
Table

2.10

of The Latour Force 1975.

- 23 _

other, it can be concluded from the table that whereas in Barbados 14/ 75%
of the working population had been exposed to secondary education, in Jamaica
only 12.7% had had similar exposure. In Guyana, the proportion of 21.9% was
almost twice as high while Trinidad and Tobago was slightly higher than Guyana.
Regardless therefore, of the ambiguity of the term post-primary in the Jamaican
labour force study of 1975, the level of education of the Jamaican labour force
remains disturbingly low.
The Barbados working population of 1970 also had a higher porportion of the
secondary exposure group holding some kind of certificate for their pains. Yet,
despite this advantageous situation, unemployment is not non-existent in Barbados.
According to figures provided by the Barbados Statistical Services based on the
continuous household sample survey, at March 1977, the unemployed 15/ represented 15.3% of the total labour force of 103,500 persons. Labour force
participation was 62.2% of the total adult population. Unemployment in Barbados
too was highest in the age group under 24 ( 30% ), and.higher among females of
this group ( 40% ) than among males ( 22% ). No contemporary breakdown of
industrial distribution or occupational structure of the labour force is available
but according to the 1970 census 17.7% of the labour force was engaged in
agriculture. In that year too unemployment stood at 9% .
Barbados provides one example of the validity of the remarks made earlier in
respect of the unemployed not seeking available jobs. The Development Plan 197377, p. 5 - 9 , reads as follows:
The shortage of domestic labour which has been plaguing the sugar industry
for the last four years is responsible for high costs of production. This
shortage has forced local producers to resort to the importation of foreign
workers to harvest sugar crops. The cost of transporting these workers to
Barbados and of housing them has served to increase labour costs. Some 975
workers were imported into Barbados in 1972.
The shortage clearly did not result from full employment in the labour force, but
from unwillingness or inability of the unemployed sector to undertake the tasks
available.

Guyana
Reliable information for the Guyana labour force is somewhat dated and new
information may not be available before completion of this study. (The Ministry
of Education, Social Development and Culture launched in August of 1977 a survey
intended to ascertain the countrys needs for skilled manpower). The Draft
Development Plan 16/ listed as major problems for Guyanas development,
unemployment and conflict between work attitudes on the one hand and production
14/ Roberts (1974) asserts that in.Barbados the distinction primary and
secondary was based on the age of the pupil, (p. 17 ). The figures for Barbados
must therefore be viewed with considerable caution.
15/

Definition of unemployed not available.

16/ Government of Guyana: Draft Second Development.Plan 1972-76, Ministry
of Economic Development, Georgetown, Guyana, 1972, 372 p. mimeo.
- 26 _

potential and demands of the .country on the other. The plan based its discussion
of the unemployment problem partially
on a manpower survey dating from 1965 17/.
According to that study, 21% of the labour force was unemployed in 1965.
Thelevel of underemployment was calculated at 1/3 of the labour force on the
assumption that those who worked less than 7 months in the year of the survey
were underemployed. The Plan (p. 54 ) also observed that if the criterion were
shifted to those who had worked less than 10 months in that year, then the
proportion would have been greater than 1/2.
Abdullah (1977, Table 7 ) cites 13.9% of the male force and 16.6% of the
female force as unemployed in 1970 according to the census (weeks activity).
More recently a document criticising the 1977 budget of the country 18/ put the
unemployment situation as follows:
The most conservative estimate would make unemployment no less than
25%
of the labour force. Among young people between 18 and 23 the figure is
probably over 60% in the urban areas. (p. 9 - 1 0 ).
The governments reply to this was as follows:
The estimated level of unemployment, particularly that for urban areas, is
so high that it must have been based upon some special definition of
employment. 19/
The barb in the response must not be allowed to obscure the governments
consciousness of the problem. The Development Plan (72-76) recognized the
spatial problem of high unemployment in tie urbanized area of Georgetown. It
also noted the problem of unemployability but in a sense different from that
previously treated. According to the Francis survey (1965) a substantial
proportion of those unemployed who had never worked, had received less than tne
statutory period of schooling and little or no vocational training. Among those
who had worked at some time, 80% required training before they could be used in
skilled positions. This figure is to be compared with Jamaicas 83.43% (1975)
with no training. Indeed, documentation in the plan describes the 1970 situation
as follows:
1.

30%

of the labour force was between the ages of

2.

75%

of the unemployed were under

3.

of that group (2 above)

26%

25

14

and

24 ;

years of age;

had little or no training.

At that same period the distribution of vacant posts was as shown in the
TabJ e 23.
17/ Francis, O.J.C. Survey on manpower requirements and the labour force,
Vol. T T , Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Georgetown, 1965. Definition
of unemployed - a person who did not work but who looked for work or wanted work
during the week preceding the survey.
18/ The Budget, the current economic situation and the interests of the
working people - a summary record of the representations made by the joint
delegation of four trade unions to the Trade Union Congress. RORAIMA, Vol. 1 ,
No. 1 , 1977. pp. 1 - 9 .
19/ Ministry of National Development, An examination of the Budget, the
current economic situation and the interests of the working people. RORAIMA,
Vol. 1 , No. 1 , 1977, pp. 20 - 33 .
- 27 _

Table 23.

Vacancies available, Guyana, 1970

j

20% of numbers employed

Manual occupations

1% of numbers employed

Clerical and service

2% of numbers employed

Administrative workers

8% of numbers employed

Professional grades

The level of education of the labour force has already been mentioned in Table
22.

Trinidad and Tobago
In the six-month period ending June 1975 the size of the non-institutional
population over 15 years of age in Trinidad and Tobago 20/ was estimated at

Table 24. Industrial distribution of labour force,
Trinidad and Tobago, 1970 and 1974
(percentages)

Labour Force
1970
Agriculture, forestry, hunting
anrl -- a  î nor
fî V -

22 2

1974

The Employed
1970

1974

io. ó

1 7
Ï

20.2

19.0

20.6

20.0

gas

16.0

16.6

14.3

14.7

Commerce

13.3

16.8

14.6

18.0

6.1

7.8

6.2

8.7

19.2

22.0

20.8

23.2

3.0

3.1

Mining and quarrying
Construction including electricity and

Transport and communications
Services
Never worked

1976.

20/ Source: C.S.O., Trinidad £ Tobago: Quarterly Economic Report Oct.-Dec.
Port of Spain, 1977, Tables 38 £ 39 .
- 28 _

670,700.
Of this population, 59% of 395,800 constituted the labour force.
Fifteen per cent ( 15% ) of the labour force ( 60,100 persons) were listed as
unemployed. 21/ . The male proportion of the labour force was 81% while the
female proportion was 36% , but unemployment among males stood at 13% whilst
among females it was stated as 20% .
The Review of the Economy 1976 draws attention to shifts in industrial
distribution between 1970 and 1974 which are relevant to our discussions 22/ .
There is a clear decrease in involvement in agriculture over the four year
period- which is taken up by commerce and services. The writers of the Review
specifically note the point in the following terms:
It is felt in some quarters that the educational system, with the production
of G.C.E. graduates trained for urban-based jobs, has resulted in a large
proportion of additions to the labour force gravitating towards these sectors.
This educational bias, combined with the financial attractiveness of the nonagricultural sectors, may have contributed to the increases in labour force
in these sectors. Government, in recognition of the educational bias
referred to has set up a committee, which since reported, to look into the
re-education of the 0 level graduates 23/.
It must be noted immediately that the Review recognizes that unemployment is
concentrated in the younger section of the labour force 24/ although an actual
figure is not cited. Taking the stated need for re-education of recent secondary
graduates and the concentration of unemployment at the lower end of the labour
force age range together with the already stated proportion of the labour force
exposed to secondary education (see Table 21 ), it is not unreasonable to state
that large numbers of persons are being educated for unemployment. The aptness
of this observation is not restricted to Trinidad and Tobago for we have noticed
similar tendencies in the Barbados labour force, and in the high levels of
unemployment in the same age group documented for Jamaica and suggested for Guyana.

Windwards and Leewards
The tables which classify the working population into occupation groups and
major industrial groups both show that the agricultural sector is of major
importance in the Windward and Leeward islands for which data are presented.
(See Tables 25 and 26 ). According to the 1970 census figures, in all of the
islands it accounted for over 30% of the work force by occupation group and
similarly over 30% of the classification by major industrial group. In both
St. Lucia and Dominica, agriculture accounted for over 40% of the employment of
the labour force. Both these islands showed markedly higher proportions in
agriculture than in other countries of the region.

21/

Definition of unemployed:

persons without work and seeking jobs.

22/ Trinidad S Tobago, Ministry of Finance:
Port of Spain, Dec. 1976, 112 p., Appendix 5 .
23/

p.

22 , our emphasis.

24/

p.

19 .
29

Review of the economy 1976,

Table, 25.

Working population by main occupation groups,.
Windwards and Leewards, 1970
(percentages)
Main

Countries,

Occupation

Groups

Prof.
and
Tech.

Admin.
and
Manag.

Clerical
and
Sales

Dominica

7.3

0.8

14.0

12.0

44.6

21.3

Grenada

8.1

0.6

14.3

13.8

33.7

29.5

Montserrat

9.3

1.4

16.3

17.4

21.7

33.8

St.Kitts-Nevis

9.2

1.0

16.9

14.0

35.5

23.4

St. Lucia

7.8

0.9

13.7

9.4

42.2

26.0

10.0

0.9

14.9

13.8

30.5

29.9

St. Vincent

Extracted from Abdullah (1977) Table

Table 26.

Services

Agric.
forestry
etc.

Production
transportation and
Other

22 .

Working population by major industrial groups,
Windwards and Leewards, 1970
(percentages)

Main

Countries
Agric.
forestry,
hunting £
fishing

Manufacturing

Industrial
Construction £
installation

Groups

Commerce

Transp.,
Storage £
Communication

Services

Dominica

39.6

7.9

10.7

14.2

3.6

23.9

Grenada

34.5

8.5

17.8

10.2

5.4

23.7

Montserrat

21.1

5.6

25.2

11.3

5.5

30.8

St. Kitts-Nevis

35.3

10.7

11.8

11.6

4.7

25.9

St. Lucia

40.2

8.3

13.9

11.9

4.1

21.6

St. Vincent

30.1

8.0

13.5

12.5

4.6

31.2

Extracted from Abdullah (1977)

Table

- 30 -

25 .

The level of education of the labour force presented a fairly grim picture
in 1970 in St. Lucia where
51.1% of the labour force had less than 5 years
of•schooling. In all other countries of the region the largest proportion of the
labour force fell into the category over 5 years of pirimary education. In
St. Lucia alone did it fall into the lower category. It must be noted here that
St. Lucia is one of the two islands (Dominica being the other) in which a large
proportion of the population does not normally communicate in English or an
English related language but in French Creole. The education system however
recognizes only English as a medium of instruction. This point is taken up later
in the study.

Table 27.

Working population 15 years and over by level of education,
Windwards and Leewards, 1970

Countries

Primary
Working
population

Less
than
5 yrs.

%

Secondary
5+
years

%

No.
cert.

Less
5+
Dip./ Other
than
O/A Peg.
5 0
Level
lvls.

%

%

%

%

%

Dominica

19,627

12.9

69.1

3.8

8.9

1.5

1.9

1.5

Grenada

25,589

9.0

77.4

3.3

4.9

2.5

1.4

1.2

3,693

10.6

65.3

3.4

12.6

2.4

4.1

1.1

St. Kitts-Nevis

12,197

6.3

71.0

3.6

10.1

2.3

2.6

3.9

St. Lucia

26,416

51.1

30.1

2.1

11.4

1.5

1.7

1.9

St. Vincent

20,713

14.1

70.3

3.5

7.2

2.1

1.7

0.8

Monteerrat

Summary
We may summarize by observing that the Caribbean area under review is
characterized by untenable levels of unemployment, underemployment and
unemployability. These characteristics.related already to the following:
1.

underdeveloped economies;

2.

low levels of training within the labour force;

3.

low levels of general education;
mis-orientation of the education system in relation to the employment
market.

- 31 _

The situation is obviously not static. Changes in the availability of
training and education are taking place. What is doubtful is whether these
changes are being accompanied by sufficiently substantial re-orientation of the
education system.

- 32 _

III.

REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Primary and secondary
The common British colonial exposure of the English-speaking Caribbean
countries has resulted in educational patterns, institutions and practices which
are basically similar. Differences in the current labelling of parts of the
systems in the scope of formal education, in quantitative offering and quality of
schooling as well as incipient divergences in orientation are as much the result
of disparit ies in the importance to the British of different countries during the
colonial period as they are the result of dissimilar rates of socio-economic growth,
constitutional advance and accession to sovereignty. Recent developments in the
region have been aimed mainly at the increase of the numbers of persons who are
exposed to secondary education of some kind. There is also some impetus to
increase the breadth of the curriculum at that level beyond the traditional
humanities and natural sciences regimen to encompass technical and vocational
areas previously considered to be the consolation of the unfortunate.
Throughout the region, the history of schools has involved religious
organizations. Government schools have co-existed with church schools within the
public sector. Within the second half of this century though, there has been
increased secularization of school control. Government financial assistance to
church schools has gradually reduced the involvement of denominational bodies to
a nominal recognition of building ownership (reflected in some cases in the names
of the schools) and to consultation on staffing. In Guyana, secularization was
completed in 1976, the centenary of the Education Act of 1876. In all the other
countries of the region of our concern, partnership between state and churches
continues. Nevertheless, criteria for staffing, management and curriculum are the
responsibilities of the governments.
Different formulae exist for financial assistance. For example, in Trinidad
and Tobago, denominational schools or assisted schools as they are called, receive
a grant for maintenance based on student numbers, while all teaching staff are paid
directly by the government. In Barbados, approved independent schools receive
staff emoluments on the basis of a formula related to pupil:teacher ratios. The
dual control system has not been free of problems, some of which have retarded
change in the systems. However, it is uncertain whether full governmental control
of schools at dates when some of the governments wished to be solely responsible
would have substantially affected the ultimate direction of development.
At the present time, all of the countries have laws which make schooling of
children compulsory between ages which vary from one country to another, the
longest period being 5 - 1-5 and the shortest
7 - 14 . The extent to which
compulsion is, or can be, exercised varies. Later discussion of participation
rates at the primary level will show how effective the legal provisions are.
Moderating factors on insistence on school attendance include shortages of places,
absence of adequate welfare provisions to assist indigents, distances to be
travelled by pupils, and the cost of administering truancy monitoring systems. In
addition, the existence in some countries of unregistered private primary schools
outside of ministerial control reduces the central authorities ability to confirm
non-attendance.
- 33 _

No fees are payable in any.public primary school - i.e. government or
assisted school. Fee-paying private primary schools exist at two levels: the
prestigious high-cost level of the preparatory school and the low-cost childminding level. Increasingly, legal provisions are made for registration of such
schools and for their observance of certain minimum standards of building type,
space allocation and sanitary provisions. The efficacy of the provisions in
ensuring minimum standards is doubtful, especially where public school provisions
fall below the standards. Far more than for the primary level, these institutions
cater for pre-primary education. By and large, few governments have become
involved at this level.
Movement through the primary sector is in most cases by automatic promotion
or at least by restricted age-grading criteria. The curriculum throughout
the
region comprises basically language arts, mathematics and social studies.
Provision is stated for art and craft, physical culture, health education,
agriculture and basic science teaching. The proportion of schools which attempt
to offer the fully prescribed range with any regularity is low. The scope and
consistency of offering varies depending on the availability of equipment and
appropriately trained and motivated teachers, whim of the teachers, principals or
supervisors, school location, weather, and the pupils
level in the school. The
higher the level, the less likely the involvement in activities other than the
basics.
Secondary education is the area of highest priority of most governments and
the area of most confusing transition as well. The traditional and still underlying pattern is the grammar school type education. Experiment and flirtation
with variously labelled alternatives have been heavily affected by the high value
which continues to be placed on such education. Basically., the grammar school
pattern involves:
a)

five years of exposure to combinations of subjects selected from among
English language and literature, modern foreign languages, mathematics,
natural sciences, history, geography, art and music divided into various
sub-sections to facilitate subject choices. Combinations of these subjects
are examined at the London General Certificate of Education, Ordinary
level (0_level), or Cambridge General Certificate of Education (Ordinary
level). /Note that both these examinations are administered by foreign
examining boards^/

b)

an additional two years of exposure to a reduced selection from among
the subjects listed above examinable by the same authorities at the
Advanced Level;

c)

tuition by staff comprised mainly of university graduates, in a majority
of cases without specific pedagogical training.

Schools which have offered such education date back in many cases to the
19th century, a few much earlier. They have acquired high prestige by virtue of
their production of now prominent citizens, success in (foreign) university
scholarship entrance, their association with religious orders, or their involvement
in the social history of their countries.

- 34 _

The first development at the secondary level within recent times was the
expansion of this style of education by the increase of schools (or numbers of
places) offering this type of education. Recognition that continuous increase in
this mould solely did not suit the needs of developing societies came long before
any attempt to modify it. A shift to a more comprehensive style of education has
begun. Generally speaking, this shift has involved:
a)

broadening of the curriculum to include provision for agricultural science,
industrial arts, craft, and commercial education*,

b)

the development of 3 - year institutions offering the expanded curriculum
examinable at the national, rather than foreign, level;

c)

the development of 2 - year institutions or equivalent programmes as a
follow-up to the 3 - year patterns, offering on paper the expanded
curriculum examinable partly nationally and partly by foreign boards;

d)

tuition by staff comprised mainly of non-graduates a large proportion of
whom have professional training.

In a majority of cases, the newer institutions referred to above are structural
showpieces, well provided with modern teaching aids and equipment, advantageously
located and assured of administrative attention at the ministry level. Despite
this, the transition to broader education is hamstrung by several problems related
to the place of these schools within the system. In general terms, provisions for
technical and vocational education have been highly inadequate throughout the region.
Where these provisions have been made in separate institutions, they have suffered
the traditional prejudice of being viewed as suitable only for rejects from the
academic stream. Nor is this problem overcome by the incorporation of these
facilities into general school systems. The tendency to stream children into the
academics and the non-academics within those schools is still an effective block
to truly egalitarian comprehensive
education.

Common Problems
The educational systems of all the countries in the region have a large
number of common characteristics which, in the context of their developmental goals,
constitute problems. As one would expect, the extent to which development is
impeded by these problems varies.

Pre-Primary Level

25/

Generally speaking, governments have not concerned themselves with pre-primary
education. Only in Jamaica and Guyana is this an area of official concern. The
Jamaican government has been actively supporting this sector both by financial
subvention and by engaging in the training of the teachers for this level. By
virtue of its total control of the education system, the Guyanese government has

25/

See Appendix

II .
- 35 _

greater responsibilities in this area than that of Jamaica. The responsibilityis new though, because prior to the take-over mentioned earlier, the Guyanese
government was only marginally involved. In the remainder of the region, preprimary education is the special preserve of charitable organizations and private
citizens.
Lack of government involvement in the pre-primary sector is a serious
deficiency of the region systems. Given the social conditions in all of the
countries, it is.clear that majorities of the child population are ill-prepared
for full participation in the existing formal education systems. The opportunities
and stimuli provided within their familiar and local environments are frequently
at variance with the assumptions of the primary school systems. This is not to
imply that the assumptions of the primary school system are either correct or
justifiable. Indeed, they frequently are not. But the existence of a gap is
recognizable and needs attention.
Regardless of the socio-political.ideologies of the governments, they all
profess some concern for equality of opportunity for children within the society»
Given this, it would seem to be important that social imbalances inherent within
post-colonial societies should be re-dressed as early as possible within the life
of young citizens. Neglect of this sector indicates a failure to grasp the
importance of this level of education in establishing social attitudes and learning strategies which might more readily favour success at later levels and attitudes
more complementary to the developmental interest of the countries. Even if
specifically positive goals were not envisaged within the pre-primary sector,
governmental involvement would, more than likely, reduce the harmful effects of
exposure of the 3 - 5
age group to teachers of dubious education and marginal
training.
It is noteworthy that it is only in the two countries which have unequivocally
stated socialist goals that pre-primary education is an official area of involvement.
It may be that they are more serious about redresss of social imbalances.

Primary Level
The primary level of education in the region has suffered neglect in favour
of the expansion of the secondary sector. Given the early restriction of secondary
education to members of the ruling classes in the region, the populations place
high value on attendance at secondary schools. This social fact has been
responsible for governmental focus on expansion of the secondary offering with a
consequent reglect of the primary sector within the limited financial resources of
the countries.
Primary schools are generally older and less substantial in construction than
the secondary schools and, even without comparing them in this manner, are far
below acceptable construction standards. A majority of primary schools would be
best demolished or almost completely re-built. Even those which are structurally
acceptable need major repairs, re-modelling or renovation if they are to be
presentable to their communities and conducive to the purposes of education.
Certainly, the nature of school buildings is partially responsible for
stagnation in teaching styles at that level. Absence of basic modern amenities
- 36 _

reduces the quality of the schools as places in which adults wish to work and
children to learn 26/ . Poor physical conditions at this level appear to have
several effects:
i)
ii)

iii)
iv)

v)

reluctance of teachers to remain in the primary sector;
reluctance of parents, especially those with moderate means, to
send their children to these schools;
restriction of the learning activities that can be undertaken;
deterioration of discipline and over-assertion of authoritarianism
on the part of the teachers;
low effectiveness of the education offered.

Overcrowding is commonplace throughout the.primary level. The obligations
implied in free compulsory education have been poorly met by the regions
governments. The location of new schools has frequently been a matter of partisan
political decision-making rather than a planning matter. Within recent years,
decreases in the birth rates have lessened the pressures in all four of the more
developed countries. Expansion of the secondary intake has also relieved overcrowding, but the statistics cited in subsequent sections indicate that the
problem continues to restrict the quality of primary education.
None of the countries of the region has a fully trained teaching force. At
the primary level, this fact is exacerbated by unsatisfactorily low levels of
educational attainment among persons employed as teachers. Some general remarks
on problems in attracting better quality personnel are appropriate here.
At the period of each countrys evolution when race, colour and economic
standing were less covertly related to career possibilities and high education
opportunity, the teaching profession was a highly valued means of escape for and
to the middle classes. The fact that the cost of training was a government
responsibility and that training was available within the region made it
particularly attractive to the ambitious without means to educate himself
professionaly outside of the region. The intellectual capability and level of
commitment of those recruited into the profession was consequently high. This
pattern has been modified by the following changes within the region:
i)

ii)

26/

University level education is now available within the region
affording access to independent professions, employment at the
higher levels of the civil service or teaching at secondary level
(which is more prestigious than teaching at the primary level).
Changes in wage structure of the society have reduced the financial
desirability of teaching at primary level.

Extravagance is not suggested as a desirable norm.
- 37 _

iii)

iv)

Persons who have university entrance qualifications prefer to enter
university. Consequently, the teaching profession receives
applications from less well qualified persons.
The.curriculum of the teachers colleges is such that the academic
component can be used as preparation for the successful
completion of examinations required for university entrance and is
used as such.
The regional university has provision for entry of persons who have
completed teachers college and taught for a prescribed period of
years.

Entry to the teaching profession is therefore used as a stepping-stone to
what is viewed as more desirable careers. The result of these considerations is
that the general educational level of personnel who enter the service and the
teachers colleges is less sound than it ought to be at this stage of the regions
development. For the same reasons, the level of professionalism of the teaching
force in the region is suspect. The poor conditions in which they operate do not
encourage repair of this deficiency. Morale among primary school teachers is
institutionally affected by the hierarchical prejudice by which primary school
teachers are traditionally non-graduate whereas secondary teachers are
traditionally graduates. If there were an established pattern of remuneration by
qualification regardless of the level of the systems at which one operated, this
particular prejudice might be eliminated with a resultant motivation of primary
teachers to seek higher qualifications and return to primary education as a career.
• Teaching in the primary sector suffers from pressure to prepare students for
secondary school entrance .examinations. Given the high premium placed on secondary
education and the insufficiency of places at secondary level, a number of attitudes
deleterious to proper education exist within the populations in respect of these
examinations. Most teachers see the rate of placement and type of school in which
their pupils are placed as a measure of their teaching ability.
There exists, therefore, hoth inter-colleague and inter-school competition
to achieve highest percentages of placements. Parental anxiety over the examination
is high and pupils absorb this spirit both from their schools and homes 27/ .
Since the test is restricted to language and mathematical skills, the range of
teaching at the primary level becomes progressively restricted as the child
approaches age 11 . In addition, since the examination is a multiple choice
test, drill in this kind of work replaces educational exposure. The implications
of such anxiety and restriction are all pervasive. Children who do not succeed at this
examination are viewed and view themselves as having failed in life  Primary
.
teaching then takes the shape of preparation for entry to a secondary education
which most of the children do not attain. The wastage resulting from such misdirected effort is a fundamental shortcoming of the primary sector throughout the
region.
27/ The anxiety seems to increase in proportion to the expansion of the
secondary sector. In Trinidad and Tobago where 62% of children writing the
examination were admitted in 1977, anxiety seems to be higher than in Jamaica
where only 17.8% were admitted in-1976.
- 38 -

The primary curriculum has staggered slowly with inadequate changes over
the several years of its existence. Serious attempts to change the content and
practices of primary curriculum are being made in Jamaica and Guyana. In both
these countries the revision of curricula has been accompanied by direct
development of new materials by the ministries concerned. In the other countries,
syllabus changes have not been supported by new materials specific to the
syllabuses. Reliance on the work of foreign publishing houses sometimes
employing regionally-based authors and consultants, has been the main means of
changing materials in use. Even so, the vast majority of curriculum material in
use is as antiquated as the school buildings. It is accurate to summarize the
relationship between the stated curricula and the practice of teaching in the
primary sector as inadequate. Much of the direction of the teaching is determined
by the textbooks in use in a particular school where it is not determined by the
secondary school entrance examination. The central problem here is that, barring
the increasingly productive efforts in Guyana and Jamaica, curriculum development
has not been established sufficiently within the regions ministries to ensure
change and modernization of practices and materials within the system. This is
not to deny the presence within ministries of education, of personnel who are
assigned to curriculum development activities and in some cases competent to
perform them. The key is that the structures within which these personnel are
made to fit are generically unsuited to the academic approaches demande by
curriculum development activities. Their effectiveness is hence either incomplete
in system coverage (i.e. subjects or regions) or sporadic.
It is particularly significant that agriculture is not an established area
of the primary school curriculum (nor for that matter the secondary) despite the
fact that so much of the regional economy is based on agriculture. In most
countries of the region, agricultural based activity in schools is casual,
unsustained and frequently involves only the post-primary sector (i.e. those who
have not been placed in the secondary schools). Traditional negative attitudes
toward manual occupations reduce the willingness of teachers, parents and pupils
to engage in such tasks related to the programmes in agricultural science that
exist 2 8/.

Secondary Level
Education designated secondary is an area of considerable unevenness throughout the region. Genuine attempts to diversify the nature of secondary education
have been reduced in their value by the political urgency to increase the number
of children receiving such education. Several governments (e.g. Guyana, Jamaica,
Barbados) have deemed the post-primary sections of all-age schools to be secondary
departments. This strategy enhances the numerical count of students receiving
secondary education. However, no substantial modification to plant, equipment or
staffing is undertaken in order to make.the offering even marginally comparable
to the offerings of schools which are specifically secondary. This practice of
self-deception is particularly undesirable where the programme attempted is
nominally similar to that of the comprehensive schools. It fosters the notion
that comprehensive secondary education is inferior to academic secondary education
and increases the lower valuation of the newer comprehensive programmes in the

28/

See

however discussion on Guyana.
- 39 _

eyes of the public, the teachers and the students. • As a result, diversification
of secondary education, which is so much to be desired within the developmental
frameworks of the several countries, fails to achieve its purposes and instead,
favours the continued elitism of academic style education. Egalitarian goals
cannot be achieved where there is obvious fostering of an order of preference
- academic, comprehensive, technical, vocational.
The error does not only lie in the failure to provide the tools of secondary
education for these secondary departments. There is a further more systematic
error. In all of the countries, access to the secondary school is by means of a
common entrance examination. The type of school to which a student is assigned
depends on his performance in that examination. The highest scoring students
are allocated to academic style schools within their intake capability; the next
highest scoring group is assigned to comprehensive style schools. Performance
ranking then, on an academically based test, is the basis for assignment not only
to academic style schools but to the comprehensives as well.
The problem does not end at the entry point. Children in 3 - year
programmes may gain access to the next level of two years to 0 level by a
further placement examination at age 14- . Candidates who are placed, go either
to the two year institutions or to longer established secondaries which have
pre 0 Level and 0 level classes. No such examination is taken by students of
the same age in the latter type of school. It is therefore, the new scheme
children who have to compete to enter the other schools while children in the
latter schools do not have to show similar performances to maintain their places.
In the face of these factors, it is not difficult to recognize that the two
styles of secondary education are officially recognized as unequal. It must be
clearly understood that the writer of this study does not believe that all children
ought to have identical education. It is neither ii their own interest nor that of
the society. Neverthelsss, there is little doubt that the current patently
unbalanced situation is undesirable.
Efforts to modify the curriculum of the academic style schools, which are
almost all long established institutions, have been minimally successful for
several reasons:
1.

the efforts have not been serious;

2.

the bureaucratic phrase subject to the availability of equipment and
staff is allowed to delay changes;

3.

in many cases the older schools belong to religious organizations, or
are managed by independent boards of governors. While, under normal
circumstances, these boards can be overruled or bypassed by the
ministries, in cases where change appears to be likely to lower the
prestige of the school, the boards find themselves championning a cause
of resistance supported by large sectors of the public and by many
educators as well. The political loss likely if most governments
overruled the resistance is one which no regional government has thus
far attempted to test. (The problem no longer arises in Guyana where
the government has total control of the system.)

- 40 _

Equality of opportunity within the secondary system is also hampered by
differences in the staffing of the comprehensive schools by comparison with the
traditional institutions. The secondary sector has traditionally been staffed by
graduate teachers. It is important to note that the proportion of these graduates
who are trained as teachers has never been a source of contention. A university
qualification at the Bachelors level was the norm for several decades. The
comprehensive style schools do not have a proportion of graduate teachers equal
to that of the older schools. Whether or not this is a measurable disadvantage,
it is a severe shortcoming in the perception of the public. Factually, it is
fair to state that the documentable educational background of the majority of
teachers in comprehensive schools is lower than that of the majority of teachers
in academic style schools. Another factor which permits retention of the
classification of schools which has grown up within the community is the absence
of a policy of zoning of secondary schools and their primary feeders. Such a step
is perhaps premature given the absence of at least a uniform curriculum.
Following from these considerations, one needs to examine the supply of
teachers at the secondary level. Diversification.of the curriculum at the
secondary level has not been co-ordinated with a programme of training for
teachers of the technical and vocational subjects demanded by the curriculum.
Quite apart from the shortage of suitably trained personnel for non-traditional
subjects, financial constrainsts (in some cases), and genuine shortages (in others),
have also prevented recruitment to new schools of personnel in traditional subject
are as.
In summary then, the diversification of the secondary curriculum has been
hampered by inadequate provisions of suitable staffing, selection processes that
negate its desirability and failure to break traditional assumptions about the
nature of secondary education in the minds of the public. Public education on
the nature of the new expanded comprehensive education has not been undertaken in
any organized manner. No attempt has been made to counteract anticipatable
negative attitudes to the new systems. Moreover, the expanded comprehensive
curriculum has been introduced at the same time as new institutions and only in
those institutions initially. They and their programmes suffer automatically by
comparison with the longer standing institutions. A more sound strategy would
have been to effect expansion of the curriculum within the older institutions
before developing the new ones. In terms of regional development, attitudinal
shift from the high valuation of white-collar employment will not be generated by
the secondary systems within the near future.
The statistical data presented in subsequent sections demonstrates the
underdevelopment of the technical and vocational areas of the secondary level.
We have already discussed the inadequacies of these areas within the secondary
schools. Where technical and vocational education is separated into independent
institutions, the numbers of students catered for is too low to meet the stated
needs of economic development.
Expansion of the secondary sector also suffers from the purely financial
constraint of the economies. Most governments have had to engage in long-term
borrowing to finance the capital cost of secondary school construction and
equipment. The high cost relates only partially to the cost of materials and
labour. A considerable part of the cost relates to the assumptions about what
should be the norm for such schools appearance. Related to this is a failure to
- 41 _

seek methods and materials for construction which do not rely on imports both of
hardware and technology. Seeking external financing implies other restrictive
factors both at the level of materials, design and curriculum. External funding
agencies tend to underwrite only those projects, which in terms of curriculum
styles, appeal to them. Proof of this is exemplified by the 1966 goals of the
New Deal for Education in Jamaica in which the criteria for grant of the loan
so closely resemble the stated goals of the education system as to give the
impression that the latter were written to suit the former.

-

-

IV.

EDUCATION WITHIN NATIONAL GOALS

It is vital in assessing the relationships between the regions educational
systems and stated national goals to be conscious that the design of the
education system does not post-date the statements of developmental goals. In
all cases, the systems pre-date the goals and each country is faced with
problems of system re-design rather than system elaboration. These problems are
made less manageable by the fact that the current national goals differ sharply
from the goals that can be assumed in the pre-independence period. Fair
critical appraisal must be aware of this.

Barbados
As in the case of all other Caribbean countries, the Government of
Barbados sees education as one of the mechanisms for achieving its social
objectives. In the Development Plan 1973/1977, apart from the areas of personal
development which can be stated as goals for education universally, the government states:
The third function of education and the one
to which increasing attention is being paid is
to produce the range of skills required in a
dynamic economy. (p.10 - 2)
The writers of the plan see the country as undergoing rapid social,
political and economic change from an elitist to an egalitarian society, from a
colony to an independent country and from a mono-crop agricultural society
dominated by the sugar industry to an increasingly complex and diversified
economy. The government committed itself to upgrading and expanding primary
level facilities and achieving adequate universal free primary education. At
the secondary level, it indicated an intention to increase emphasis on technical
and vocational education. It also stated as its policy the provision of a
system of secondary education,
universal and free to all pupils between
the ages of 11 and 14 and thereafter, on a
selective basis, to those pupils who have
demonstrated the ability to profit from
further secondary education up to the age
of 17 or 18. (p.10-11).
At the time of preparation of the plan, the government envisaged capital
expenditure within the life of the plan of BDS$11.5 million. This was earmarked
for construction of new secondary comprehensive schools and extension ,of
existing secondary comprehensives and grammar schools to a total of 7,000
additional places. At the primary level, an outlay of BDS$2.8 million was
envisaged for rehousing 11,400 students in new or extended primary school
facilities. It is difficult to ascertain how completely the targets have been
achieved. Nevertheless, the provisions cited indicate the direction of
piovement of the system. It should be noted that at that time, the government
- 43 _

was spending 21% of its total expenditure in the educational sector. In the
1975/1976 estimates, 29/
of a total recurrent expenditure of BDS$175.4
million, BDS$43.4 million (24.7%) was earmarked for education, while of $48.3
million capital, $6.8 million was allocated to education.

Primary Level
The most recent publication of a comprehensive set of educational
statistics for Barbados dates from 1967. This is most unfortunate because it
makes discussion of the contemporary picture sketchy and difficult to compare
with other countries.
In 1976, there were 120 government primary schools in Barbados including
one special school for the deaf and three pre-primary schools. The schools are
sub-classified on the basis of the ages of the children for whom they cater as
follows:
1. Nursery (under 5 years)
2. Infant (5-7)
3. Primary (5-9)
4. Junior (7-11)
5. All age (5-14)

30/

The total number of pupils in those schools was 35,829 distributed as
follows:
Infants

Juniors

12,538

Seniors

19,726

3,565

Total
35,829

No figures are available for private schools outside the control of the
»J.11J.O Li. ^ .

It is worth noting that there has been a decline in the number of children
under 11 enrolled in primary and all age schools from 43,934 in 1967 31/
to
35,829 in 1976 32/
29/

Central Bank of Barbados:

Economic and Financial Statistics, April

30/

Two schools cater for children aged 7-14 and 9-14.

1977.

31/ Ministry of Education: Digest of Education Statistics 1966/1967
Bridgetown (undated) Table p.l. At that time an additional 1,346 children
were registered in unaided independent primary schools.
32/

Ministry of Education, Barbados,

- 44 _

private communication.

The decrease appears to relate partially to a fall in the birth rate in
the country. No information is available for the size of the age cohort in 1976.
However in 1972, the total population aged 5-11 was estimated 42,537. The rate
of participation for that age group was 85.5% (in government primary schools).
In 1973, the proportion of primary school teachers who were trained was 44.5%.
The ratio of teachers to pupils was 1:30 and the ratio of trained teachers to
pupils was roughly 1:74 33/» (Table 28 shows teachers actually in government
owned and/or maintained schools at June 30th 1973).

Secondary Level
Secondary schools in Barbados are classified as grammar or older
secondary schools, comprehensive or newer secondary schools, aided or
approved independent secondary schools and unaided independent or private
schools. Grammar schools and comprehensive schools are fully financed by the
government. Approved independent secondary schools are financed in accordance
with the following formula: emoluments of 1 teacher per 100 pupils between ages
10-17 up to 500 pupils, and thereafter 1 to every 200 or part thereof being not
less than 60% of 200. In addition, a number of bursaries are offered to
students attending these schools on the basis of the C.E. Exam (1973, 464
bursaries).
In 1976, there were 10 grammar schools, 10 comprehensive schools and 18
approved independent schools. Enrolment was as follows:
Grammar Schools
Comprehensive schools
Approved independent

5,626
13,438
5,777

TOTAL
It should be noted here that in the senior department of all-age schools
the programme of work is supposed to be equivalent to the programme of the first
3 years in a school labelled secondary. One should therefore reckon another
3,565 pupils who are supposed to be receiving secondary exposure bringing the
total secondary to 28,406. No information on the size of the age group in the
total population for 1976 is available.
The 1973 report states that entrance to the grammar schools is by means of a
competitive Common Entrance Examination (C.E.E.)bpen to pupils over 10 but under 12
on the 1st September in the year of the examination. It does not state the
means of entrance to comprehensive schools.
The C.E.E. in Barbados is a two-part examination in which Part I is a

33/

Ratios do not include headteachers.
- 45 _

qualifying test for entry to Part II. The examination is set by an educational
research unit of the University of Edinburgh in collaboration with the Ministry
of Education. In 1973, 10,445 children sat Part I and of these, 4,455 (42.6%)
qualified for Part II. Of those who sat Part II, 818 were placed in grammar
schools and 464 were awarded bursaries to approved independent schools. In
other words, less than one-third of the pupils writing Part II were placed in
one of these school types. This represents only 12.2% of the original 10,445
who entered at Part I. No indication of the placement in comprehensive schools
for that year is available. However, the Form I enrolment in 1973 for the
comprehensive schools was 2,934. If we assume that these children were placed
wholly or partially on the basis of the same examination, we may calculate a
total secondary entry in that year of 4,216 or 40% of the original 10,445
entered at Part I.
Examination of the types of schools from which pupils enter the older
government secondary schools by means of the Common Entrance examination is
indicative of a strong bias in favour of children from private preparatory schools.
This bias must be considered in the light of the patronage of these schools by
the middle and upper socio-economic groups. It should not be automatically
assumed to reflect a disparity in the quality of education offered in government
and private schools. In 1973, 93% of the entrants at Part I were from
government primary and all age schools. Only 39% of them reached Part II and
of those sitting that examination only 14.5% of them were placed in one of the
older government secondary schools. By contrast, the private schools supplied
7% of the Part I entrants of whom 70% reached Part II. of those sitting Part
II, 48 % were placed in similar schools. Hence, although
entrants
from government
schools outnumbered those from private
schools
by 13 to 1, their placement rate was only 2.3:1. This disadvantage to the mass
of the population in secondary placement is repeated throughout the region.
Staffing in the grammar schools stood at 261 and in comprehensive
secondary schools at 521, providing ratios of 1:21 in the former and 1:22 in the
latter. The proportion of trained teachers in the grammar schools was 42% and
in comprehensive schools 51%. (See Table 28 for details).
Between 1973 and the present time, a significant increase in the proportion
of trained secondary school teachers should have taken place, since training for
graduate teachers is now available in Barbados at the University Campus there.
It is important to observe here that the comprehensive schools do not
really offer the same programme as the grammar schools if one is to judge by the
fact that they prepare students for different examinations. The 1971 report of
the Ministry of Education makes this quite clear:
All pupils of the Grammar Schools are
expected to work towards examinations set
by various overseas bodies.... In the
Comprehensive schools, pupils who show
ability are also allowed to work towards
examinations set by overseas bodies, the
other pupils write subjects of the Barbados
School Leaving Examination which is organised
- 46 _

Tabic 28.

Type
of
School

Barbados.

Teachers actually in government owned-and/or maintained schools at June 30, 1973

Graduates

Completed
Secondary a/

Trained Un-Trained

Trained Un-Trained

Not
Completed
Secondary
Un-Trained

Total

Grand
Total

% of
Total
Trained

Trained Un-Trained

y
Primary
S AllAge

Ratio of
Teachers cj
(excluding
Headteachers)
to pupils

1

1

639

233

564

640

798

1,438

44.5

1:30

Newer
Secondary

40

50

226

144

61

266

255

521

51.1

1:22

Grammar

66

114

44

27

10

110

151

261

42.1

1:21

107

165

909

635

1,016

1,204

2,220

Total

 404

a/ Completed Secondary means having obtained four certificates at G.C.E. Ordinary level,
including English Language or the equivalent of this.
b/ A trained teacher is one who has attended and successfully completed an approved course of
professional training at a Teachers College, a University Department of Education or other training
Institution.
c/ These ratios give the overall picture. Variations occur between schools because of
differences in total enrolment, single sex or mixed, number of subject options, etc.

and supervised by the Ministry of Education.

34/

In the secondary schools, including grammar schools, provisions exist for
teaching of technical and vocational subjects - Industrial Arts, Commercial
subjects, Art, Handicraft, Home Economics and Agricultural Science. It is not
clear how well subscribed the courses are, but given that those students who
offer them do so mainly for the School Leaving Certificate, it can be assumed
that their importance is low in the grammar schools and higher in the
comprehensives. The Barbados Community College with a 1973 enrolment of 923
students offers 6th Form education as well as vocational programmes in commerce
and technical subjects. The Samuel Jackson Prescod Polytechnic provides fulltime and part-time courses in Building trades, Electrical and Engineering trades
with certification by the City and Guilds of London Institute and the Associated
Examining Board. Its enrolment in 1973 stood at 1,284 students.
Teacher education for the primary level is provided in the Erdiston
Teachers Training College. The colleges enrolment in 1977 was 242 students in
a two-year programme taugth by 23 full-time and 5 part-time staff. Mihimun
entry requirements are 4 0 levels including English Language.

Guyana
Guyana is committed to socialism and sees co-operativism as the means to
.achieving its ideals. The perspectives of the government are stated in the
1972-76 draft development plan 35/ in the following terms:
1.

The society must be truly Guyanese - true
unity of its ethnic groups must accompany
spread of economic activity and development
regionally and societally;

2.

Guyanese must be self-reliant - in managing
their own affairs, producing to meet their
needs, controlling technological change in
their society;

3.

The society must be egalitarian - co-operatives
are seen as the main vehicle for achieving this
end.

34/ Report of the Ministry of Education Barbados for the period 1st.
September 1970 to 31st. August 1971, p.29.
35/ Government of Co-operative Republic of Guyana: Draft Second
Development Plan 1972-1976, Ministry of Economic Development, Georgetown, 372
p. mimeojl972.

- 48 _

The national objectives of Guyana are stated by the government as follows:
1.

The creation of employment opportunities for all Guyanese.

2.

The attainment of an equitable distribution of income.

3.

The achievement of an equitable geographical distribution
of economic activities.

4.

The establishment of the foundation for the attainment of
self-sustained economic growth. 36/

In 1972, the government set itself the goals of feeding, clothing and
housing the nation by 1976. It saw this target as a duty of the Government and
people, a duty which offered opportunity for creation of employment, expansion
of the economy and for extending geographically and functionally, economic
activity within the country. That the total goals have not yet been achieved
may provide a heated talking point for partisan politics. However, as far as
any assessment of education within Guyana goes, the statement of the task and an
attempt to achieve it rather than the date for its realization is of paramount
importance.
Against the background of concerns expressed in the development plan, the
political philosophy of socialism, the social vehicle of co-operativism and the
.specific perspectives stated above, the leadership of Guyana sees education as a
tool for development of the nation. The Prime Minister puts it as follows:
Education in former times was used as an
instrument of division and class prejudice
in support of the imperialist capitalist
system. Now it must be used as an instrument
of true democracy and a tool for fashioning
the socialist society. 37/
The Development Plan stated a consonant focus:
Developments in education are important
not only because they can contribute to the
supply of skills but because they can lead
to a deeper appreciation and understanding
of the desire for Guyanese social and

36/ Planning Unit, Ministry of Education and Social Development:
Year Report 1965-1973, Georgetown, 1974, p. 25
37/ Burnham, L.F.S. : Towards the Socialist Revolution.
Prime Minister, Georgetown 1975. p. 26.

- 49 -

Nine

Office of the

cultural values and to a greater equality
of opportunity where merit, rather than
privilege at birth, determines status in
our society. (p.60).

Report

The specific goals of the educational system are stated in the Nine Year
38/ in the following terms:
The educational system is expected to prepare
citizens who will appreciate and understand
the social circumstances of Guyana and their
roles in the Guyanese environment.
The system therefore, will in particular aim at:
i)

ii)

iii)

iv)

v)

vi)

the creation of a learning environment which
would develop a feeling of self-worth in the
individual and promote harmonious interpersonal relationships;
the inculcation of patterns of human behaviours
which support strategies determined for national
development
the supply of academic training relevant to the
wide range of occupational skills necessary for
the economic and social development of Guyana;
the orientation of the school population to
occupations relating to the three major goals
of feeding, clothing and housing the nation;
the involvement of the school population in
community schemes which identify job opportunities
and job needs in the rural, urban and hinterland
areas in which they live;
the provision of organizing skills which prepare
young people for self-employment in accordance
with their skills and interests and the observed
needs of particular communities.

To achieve these ends, the Government of Guyana spent in 1975 G$47.9 mn
(recurrent) and G$ll.l mn (capital) representing 11.1% of its total public
expenditure and 5.5% of its GDP. This proportion was in fact the lowest

38/ Planning Unit, Ministry of Education and Social Development (1974),
op.cit. p. 25-26.

- 50 _

percentage of total government public expenditure between 1966 and 1975.
Unfortunately, figures are not available for 1976, the year in which the
government took full responsability for all levels of education.
The complete takeover by the government of all educational institutions in
Guyana is a factor which muddles evaluation of their educational system.
Takeover of the private sector brings within governmental responsibility and
accountability both the liabilities and the assets of the private sector. To
the governments credit or discredit, now fall such poor provisions as exist in
the pre-primary sector (plant, equipment and personnel) as well as the above
average provisions of the prestigious preparatory schools. In other words,
statistical indicators for several years after the takeover may show worsening
of the teacher training levels, deterioration in plant, increase in
overcrowding, etc. at some levels of the system, while the opposite may be
noticeable in other areas of the system. It seems best then, to comment on the
fact of government control per se rather than to comment on the system in terms
of its control by the government.
The egalitarian goals envisaged within the socialist ideal make government
control in education a logical necessity. That the Guyana government has taken
the step 39/ is therefore consistent with its position. There is some doubt
though, whether adequate planning preparations preceded the takeover.
Documentation to the contrary is not available.
Guyana is at the present time some distance away from equality of
educational opportunity. The statement is applicable at all levels of the
system and in respect both of qualitative and quantitative measures,
discounting the pre-primary level for which the government had no responsability
prior to 1976, the primary and secondary levels show extensive variations in the
adequacy of physical plant, the levels of training and education of teachers,
the supply of teachers 40/ and the likelihood that students at one level will
be admissible at subsequent levels of education. At the primary level,
overcrowded, dilapidated and outmoded buildings and furnishings restrict the
quality of teaching possible in far too large a proportion of schools.
Documentation on regional differences in school conditions is not available.
However, the differences in distribution of trained teachers suggest continuing
biases in favour of urban areas.
It is of value here to note the findings of Bynoe (1972) 41/ on a
section of the pupils successful at secondary entrance. He notes that in 1969,

39/

The government of Jamaica has not yet stated an intention to do so.

40/

See Tables 29,

31,

33,

35.

41/ Bynoe, J.G Equality and High School Opportunity - A Guyanese Case
Study1972.

- 51 _

despite a rural primary school population four times as large as that of
Georgetown, there were only 2 ^ / 2 times as many rural children in the secondary
sector. In 1971, rural children obtained only 25% of the places for entry to
government secondary schools. He observes too, that although the number of
children in public primary schools exceeds the number in expensive private
preparatory schools by a factor of at least 15, 53% of free place winners came
from the latter schools. In addition, in a country where the working class
(non-clerical) occupational group comprised 54% of the population, in 1967 only
16%, and in 1971 only 14% of free places went to children of working class
parents. In other words, access to secondary education is still biased in
favour of urban middle class children despite the movement towards equalization
which can be credited to the governments efforts. 42/ Bynoe (1974) 43/
documents the improvement in relative ethnic representation and regional representation between the mid-fifties and the seventies.
Revaluation of the purposes of education in Guyana is exemplified in the
development of community high schools.and multilateral high schools with
programmes that point clearly to equipping children for work that is supportive
of community goals. The seriousness of the governments intention is exemplified
by a look at the programme of the teachers colleges far better than by
consideration of the schools themselves. The Cyril Potter College of Education
is concerned with the preparation of teachers for the primary and the postprimary (tops of primary) sectors of the system. The college has made
agriculture one of its central concerns to the extent that it cultivates 10 ^/2
acres of rice, 3 acres of vegetables and maintains a poultry farm of over 4,000
birds. Labour and management in the enterprise are provided by the student
teachers. The Lillian Dewar College of Education which is concerned with
secondary teachers will be, when it moves to a new suitable location, similarly
involved in such an integration of teacher education with a stated developmental
goal. This inclusion of work experience in a traditionally negatively valued
area within the scheduled activities of a teachers college is unique in the
region.
The disgression here indicates that the level or seriousness with which
Guyana views its educational re-orientation is sufficiently high that a complete
shift to the multilateral and community high school style of secondary education
is a real likelihood in Guyana. It should be noted here too, that Guyana has
committed itself unreservedly to supporting the Caribbean Examinations Council
which in 1979 should begin to offer a regionally designed and administered
secondary level certifying examination in a phased replacement of the foreign
based examinations of Cambridge and London.

42/ See comments on Barbados - p. 71,
Tobago - p. .108.
43/

Bynoe, J. G.

Jamaica - p. 102 and Trinidad and

Education and Development

1974

- 52 -

Text of Radio Broadcast

There are however certain areas or concern in the future of Guyanas
educational orientation. These relate to the work-study plans for the
multilaterals and especially for the community high schools and to the governments complete control of the education system.
The programme of the community high schools envisages that senior students
will actually engage in work related to their area of vocational choice during
the final two years of their schooling. This means that even if, for purposes
of the statistical measurement of the labour force, they are considered to be
students and not reckoned as part of the force, they will be technically
competing for jobs with the unemployed within the labour force. Even if one
accepts the governments retort to the suggested 25% unemployment figure
(see p.42) and the figure is reduced to a more conservative 16%, there is no
reason to suppose that the economy can generate enough employment to absorb both
the genuine unemployed and the student-workers.
In addition, if one accepts both
the criticism of high unemployment in the 19-23 age group and the likelihood
(given knowledge about the nature of unemployment in the region) that the
figure _ s high, it seems that introduction of an additional cadre of workers
i_
might create some further problems for the economy. It must be recognized that
part of the anxiety to expand secondary schooling as well as to develop the
Pioneer Corps within the Guyana National Service stems from a desire to reduce
unemployment by encreasing the number of persons usefully occupied within
educational institutions.
The second area of concern is that - the governments takeover of the
entire educational system, unless accompanied by a deliberate policy of
equalization of standards within the system, can lead to continued, but hidden
elitism within the state system. It has been shown that prior to the takeover,
prestigious private preparatory schools provided a disproportionately high
percentage of the winners of free place to secondary schools. These schools
have not ceased to exist; they have merely ceased to be private or
preparatory. Given their geographical concentration and location, it is quite
likely that they will continue to be patronised by the children of above
average socio-economic and educational backgrounds and that their success in
preparing children for secondary school entrance examinations will continue.
The danger is that, because they too are now within the public sector, their
continued advantage over other schools may not be noted in the statistical
documentation. Consequently, they may continue to offer a safe route for the
middle classes through to secondary education at the expense of the mass of the
population. Two courses of action immediately suggest themselves.
Firstly,
the aspects of these schools which are worthy of preservation should as far as
possible be generated within the rest of the system; 44/ secondly, pre-primary
education, especially of children of lower socio-economic groups, should be
accelerated within the system.

44/ It is vitally important that attempts at system equalization should
not take the form of stripping these institutions of those of their
characteristics which are desirable.

- 53 _

The Pre-primary Sector
Up to 1976, pre-primary éducation was not an area in which the Government
exercised control or was involved. Estimates made in 1974 indicated that
approximately 80,000 children were enrolled in 200-300 45/ nursery schools,
none of which was government controlled. At that date, the government described
its position as not yet ready to control pre-primary education but interested
in the future of the 80,000 children..... The main area of official concern
over these schools was the appalling accomodation and the unacceptably high
proportion of untrained teachers w h o functioned in them. In that year,
therefore, G$1.0 million was provided for training in and observation of proper
nursery school education. With the active collaboration of the government, the
Guyana Association of Childhood Education began several schemes in 1973 for the
improvement and ultimate transformation of pre-primary education.
Developments
envisaged for pre-primary education are about to move beyond the planning stages.

Primary education
By the Education Ordinance of 1876, schooling became compulsory for all
children between 6 and 12 years old except in Georgetown, New Amsterdam and
Buxton where the requirement was 6 to 14 years old. Schools however, admitted
pupils from age 5 until the Memorandum on Education of 1968 fixed the minimum age
of 5 years 9 months. Part of the reason for this change in practice was to
reduce overcrowding in schools. In 1977, there were 399 schools designated
primary, all controlled by the government. 46/ Given the governments stated
concern with the elimination of geographical disadvantage in education as well
as for the spatial aspects of unemployment, it is worth looking at the
distribution of school places in the several administrative districts of the
country.
In East Coast Demerara, Essequibo and North West, shortages of places in
1970 were converted to surplus elbow room by 1975 and in East Bank Demerara the
underprovision was substantially reduced . With the exception of the above, of
the Interior and West Berbice, overcrowding remains a problem.
The potential effectiveness of provision of primary school places must
relate partially to both the involvement of the age cohort in school and to the
ratios of teachers and trained teachers to pupils. Table 30 shows involvement
proportions for 1970 and 1975 in government and assisted schools. The 9 years
report (1965-1973) estimated that 15% of the age group for first level primary
attended private schools and on that basis suggested an overall involvement of
85%.

45/ Nine Year Report 1965-1973.
- page 5 says 300, page 39 says 200.

There is a discrepancy in the figures

46/ Up to the previous year only 44.6% were government, the rest were
denominational.
- 54 _

Table 29.

Guyana: Regional distribution of schools, places and surplus/deficit,
1970 and 1975 a/
bj

No.

District

of

Enrolment

Places

schools

Surplus/

Provided

deficit

1975

1970

1975

21,572

21,995

17,810

18,268

-3,742

-3,727

46

16,252

16,788

15,840

15,837

-412

-952

31

32

12,286

13,303

13,551

14,569

1,265

+1,266

East Coast
Demerara

45

42

24,932

24,837

22,692

25^688

-2,240

+ 851

Georgetown

35

36

29,123

28,921

23,522

23,109

-5,601

-5,812

East Bank
Demerara

33

36

16,316

16,872

12,622

15,486

-3,694

-1,386

West
Demerara

45

45

22,368

22,062

19,522

18,533

-2,846

+3 ,527

Essequibo

44

44

13,466

13,603

11,744

13,642

-1,702

+ 39

North West

31

34

3,942

4,078

3,602

4,201

-340

+ 123

Interior

51

55

6,341

7,746

8,043

9,232

+1,702

+1,486

388

399

1970

1975

Corentyne

29

29

New
Amsterdam

44

West
Berbice

Total

1970

166,578 170,205

Places needed:

1970 - 20,597;

1975

148,948 158,564

a/ 1970 data from Planning Division, Ministry
Educational Statistics 1970-1971. Georgetown, 1972,
from Planning Unit, Ministry of Education and Social
Educational Statistics 1974-1975. Georgetown, 1976,
b/

1970

of Education. A Digest of
130 p. Table 2. 1975 data
Development: A Digest of
183 p. Table 10.

1975 - 15,406.

- 55 _

Table 30.

Guyana:

Involvement ratio of pupils, primary schools, first level a/

Year

School
Population

1969-70

129,527

170,220

76.09

1974-75

132,063

175,786

75.13

Estimated
Total Cohort

% Involvement

Sources: 1970-1971 Digest, Table 8.
1974-1975 Digest, Table 2.
a/

First level = up to age 12

Since in Guyana the all age school is divided into a first level (primary)
and a second level (secondary department), the figures for staffing will be
kept separate where the data permit. In 1970, 3,788 teachers were available for
the 129,527 pupils at the primary level at a ratio of 1:34. By comparison in
1975, the school population of 132,063 was catered to by 4,096 teachers at a
ratio of 1:32. The 1975 Digest of Educational Statistics (p.57) cautions that
the overall ratio appears more favourable than it is because there is a large
number of schools with enrolments under 100 which, however small, must be
staffed by a minimum of two teachers. In 1975, the proportion of trained
teachers at first level was 44.4%. A comparable figure for first level
primary is not available for 1970, However, for both sections of the ail-age
school, the figure in 1970 was 38.2% and by 1975 it had risen to 47.0%. The
ratio of trained teachers to pupils (both sections) was 1:81 in 1970 and 1:60 in
1975. Table 31 shows the percentages of trained teachers by educational
administrative districts.

56

Table 31.

Guyana:

Trained teachers by educational administrative districts,
1970 and 1975

1 9 7 0

Districts

Total .

. % Trained

1 9 7 5
%
Trained
Total

Corentyne

712

34.0

707

43.4

New Amsterdam

522

34.3

568

41.0

West Berbice

435

30.7

456

42.1

East Coast Demerara

828

39.9

840

44.4

1,035

54.4

1,133

69.0

East Bank Demerara

581

30.4

578

43.9

West Demerara

747

31.7

750

43.9

Essequibo

475

31.4

503

35.9

North West

159

22.6

167

28.1

Interior

254

19.6

282

27 .3

Georgetown

Secondary Education
Education designated
types of institutions:
1. Tops

secondary is offered in Guyana in the following

(or secondary departments) of primary schools

2. Senior secondary schools
3. General secondary schools
Multilateral schools
5. Community high schools
The variety of experiments which the differences of names indicate,
reflects the transitional nature of the system and the level of attention
directed at the secondary system. The order of 2-5 above indicates roughly the
order of experiment. Lest gross current figures and detailed examination
obscure the progress that has been made in this area, it is worthwhile to quote
the statement of Bynoe (1974) 47/ on the expansion of opportunities for
secondary education:
47/

Bynoe, J.G.: Education and Development Broadcast May 1974.
- 57 _

Between 1957 and 1971, the number of Government
and Government-aided secondary schools rose
from four (4) to sixty four (64) and the enrolment
in these schools rose from 1,765 to about 21,000.
Before 1957, the rural secondary school population
was about 30% of the national total, although rural
secondary school age children were about 85% of the
age cohort. By 1971, the rural secondary school
population was about 60% of the national total.
Having established the magnitude of progress at this level, we may proceed
with detailed examination of the provision at secondary level. In 1977, there
were 47 secondary schools, all, as in the case of the primaries, owned and
controlled by the government. In 1975, only 34 of the 47 were government, the
rest being denominational. The distribution of schools designated secondary
was as shown in Table 32 in 1970 and 1975. (Distribution of places for those
years is not available).

Table 32.

Guyana:

Schools designated secondary by administrative district,
1970 and 1975

District

1970
7
3
3
4
15
3
4
2
1
2

Enrolment

49

20,999

Total

7
4
4
6
•16
3
4
3
2
0

44

Corentyne
New Amsterdam
West Berbice
East Coast Demerara
Georgetown
East Bank Demerara
West Demerara
Essequibo
North West
Interior

1975

20,064

To the total number enrolled in the schools designated secondary must be
added those students in the secondary departments of the all age schools. Here,
figures are available for their regional distribution.

- 58 _

Table 33. Guyana: Distribution of students enrolled in the secondary departments
or all age schools, 1970 and 1975

District

1970

1975

Corentyne
New Amsterdam
West Berbice
East Coast Demerara
Georgetown
East Bank Demerara
West Demerara
Essequibo
North West
Interior

4,155
3,848
3,072
5,732
5,788
3,540
5,636
2,682
615
1,026

4,120
4,031
3,348
5,700
6,461
3,895
5,334
3,156
726
1,371

33,315

38,142

Total

Of the total secondary exposure therefore of 54,134 pupils in 1970, 61.3/%
were in fact in the secondary departments of all age schools. In 1975, of
64,206 secondary students, 59.4% were similarly placed. The involvement ratios
for 12-18 population are shown in Table 34.

Table 34.

Invôlvéméht ratios, secondary cycle, 1970 and 1975

Year

12-18
Population

Secondary
Enrolment

Ratio

1970

132,846

52,618

39.6

1975

119,287

64,206

53.8

Pupils to teacher ratios in schools designated secondary moved from 1:27
in 1970 to 1:21 by 1975. The training and education of teachers in secondary
schools is provided in Table 35. It should be noted too that 52.4% of the
teachers in the secondary departments of primary schools were listed as trained
in 1975. No separate figure is available for 1970.

- 59 _

Table 35. Guyana: -Teachers in schools designated secondary
by qualifications and status, 1970 and 1975

Year

Graduate
Trained Untrained

Oualified
Unqualified Acting
Non-Grad.
Trained Untrained

Total

Trained

1970

107

139

204

310

37

71

868

35.8

1975

208

200

259

350

14

129

1,160

42.6

(Regional distribution of trained teachers is not available)

Entry to schools designated secondary (i.e. excluding tops of primaries),
is by means of a Secondary Schools Entrance Examination which is competitive in
the sense that placement is restricted by the number of places available in
those schools. The examination is taken by children between 10 and 12 years old.
In 1975, 16,316 pupils, or 35.9% of the age cohort of 45,499 sat the examination.
A total of 3,834 or 23.5% of those who sat the exam (i.e. 8.4% of the age group)
were placed in a secondary school. Country-wide free places giving entry to
Senior Secondary Schools were awarded to 364 students and Area free places
affording entry to Junior Secondary Schools were offered to the remaining
3,740. Children who are not placed by this examination remain in the secondary
department of the primary schools and work towards one of two other examinations,
both of which can earn them places in a secondary school. They are (a) the
Preliminary Certificate examination which is the official school leaving
certificate and must be passed by age 13, and (b) the College of Preceptors
Examination 48/ for which the age limit is i5 years. In 1975, 24,303 children
sat the Preliminary Certificate exam, 2,369 or 9.7% being successful. In the
case of the College of Preceptors examination 34.3% (1,746) of the 5,076
students who sat were successful. No information on how many were placed in
secondary schools as a result of these two examinations is available.

48/

Discontinued with effect from 1977.

- 60 _

School types at the secondary level
One has to he careful not to assume that the labels junior and senior
in the Guyanese secondary system have the same meanings as they do elsewhere in
the region. Indeed, all of the terminology needs explanation. General
secondary education is offered in two types of schools:
1. The junior secondary schools which offer
5 years of education up to the London 0
level G.C.E. examination;
2. The senior secondary schools which offer a
7 year programme leading to the London A
_
level G.C.E.
examination.
Themultilateral school offers a five year programme in which the first
three years are a comprehensive style programme comprising English Language,
Modern Languages, Modern Mathematics, Integrated Science, Social Studies, Music
and Drama, Art, Home Economics, Agriculture and Commercial subjects. In the
last two years, students may opt to specialize in areas of their interests and
aptitude. In the second period the students are exposed to real work conditions
In the areas of their specialization. The community high school was introduced
in 1973 to improve the type of secondary exposure offered in the tops of primary
schools. The community high school is a central school fed by the local
primaries in which a four year programme of study in two phases of two years is
offered. In the first two years, basic academic subjects are offered together
with pre-vocational activities in Art and Craft, Agriculture, Home Economics,
Industrial Arts and any other specific vocational activities related to the
particular community. In the second two year phase, the emphasis is shifted to
the vocational activities from the academic base and students are guided to the
selection of one vocational area. It should be noted that the government has
stated its intention of shifting the junior and senior secondary type of school
in the direction of the multilateral schools.
Independently of the exposure possible within the secondary sector to
technical and vocational subjects, six institutions offer courses in these areas.
The Georgetown Government Technical Institute and the New Amsterdam Technical
Institute had in 1974/1975, total enrolments of 2,042 and 802 students
respectively. Their programmes include a wide range of engineering, electronic,
construction, commercial and craft skills. The Guyana Industrial Training
Centre offers craft courses for tradesmen and in 1975 trained 116 students. The
Carnegie School of Home Economics operated a 3 year programme in Home Economics
with a 1975 registration of 172. In addition, 625 persons were registered in
evening courses. A much smaller institution, the Fredericks School of Home
Economics, provided training for 41 students in 1975.

Other provisions
The Guyana School of Agriculture is perhaps b e s t classified as a tertiary
level institution. It offers a two years Diploma in Agriculture and a two
year Certificate in Agriculture. Total enrolment in 1975 was 148 students.

- 61 _

Teacher education in Guyana is established in two Teachers Colleges.
(See also university provision). The 1976 registration at the Cyril Potter
College of Education was 660 students who were being prepared to function at the
primary level and in the programmes of tops of primary schools. The college
operates a 2 year programme. The Lillian Dewar College prepares secondary
teachers in particular for multilateral schools. The registration for 1976 is
not available, but 1975 registration was 123 students in a three year programme.

Guyana National Service
Discussion of education in Guyana must consider the provisions within the
Guyana National Service. The GNS has a volunteer Pioneer Corps within which a
wide range of technical skills and academic tuition is listed as available.
After 6 months of military training, volunteers serve a further 12 months during
which they may acquire training in language, mathematics, building trade crafts,
technical engineering skills, handicraft, electrical and electronic subjects,
agriculture and the arts. The extent to which the opportunities listed can be
fully exploited is a subject of disagreement. It is clear that agricultural
production takes precedence over the training component and that the military
component is heavily weighted. GNS was responsible for the development of
cotton growing to the extent of being able to export G$300,000 worth of cotton
•to Trinidad in 1976. GNS farms also grow, in commercial quantities, black-eye
peas, pineaples, peanuts and vegetables. Civic education of political education
is one of the main areas of GNS interest.

Jamaica
Jamaica, like Guyana, professes a socialist political ethic and accepts
the logical necessity for an egalitarian educational system. Because, however,
of the grossly underdeveloped educational exposure of the population, the
priorities are differently perceived. The most pressing need is to provide some
kind of basic primary education for all children and to achieve literacy in that
part of the adult population which has not benefited from effective schooling.
To achieve the latter, the Jamaican Government established in 1972, a National
Literacy Board aimed at the elimination of illiteracy. The Board was replaced
in 1974 by the JAMAL Foundation (Jamaican Movement for the Advancement of
Literacy). The programmes of JAMAL involve a staff of 845 persons with several
thousand volunteer teachers. In 1975, 85,471 persons were enrolled at 2,748
centres manned by 8,850 volunteer teachers. It is not possible to state the
effect of the programme on the rate of illiteracy in the country. Indeed, it
seems definite that a psychological breakthrough has been effected in having the
illiterate recognize that his handicap is remediable and not a personal fault of
stupidity. Evaluation of the programme appears to be urgently required.
The plight of the primary school in Jamaica is fully documented in the
Report in depth of Primary Education in Jamaica submitted to the Minister of
Education in 1974. 49/ One of the most alarming aspects of the primary schools

49/ Ministry of Education: Report in depth of Primary Education in
Jamaica. Kingston 1974.
- 62

_

is the low basic education of teachers within the system.

The report comments:

Another feature deserving study is the rarity of cases in which persons
who have come up through a High School take up a career in the Primary
School system. There exists, therefore, a vicious circle in which, coming
from the Primary Schools with a poor education and rising via the teachers
colleges where remedial work can only be partially done, people return to
the Primary School to reinforce the unsatisfactory intellectual situation
there (p. 10).
When one considers the inadequacy of space, the low attendance figures in
relation to enrolment and the alarming level of education of the teachers? it
becomes clear that the egalitarian goal has to start at the point of simply
providing places and higher quality teachers at the primary level. Appreciation
of the point is sharpened by reference to the number of children between the ages
of 6 and 15 years who are not registered in a school. In 1973, it was estimated
that 35,600 children between 6 and 11 year old (i.e. 10% of the age cohort) were
not registered in a schoool. At the 12-15 age level, 35,900 (20% of the age
cohort) were not registered. 50/ The problem of teacher supply is worsened by
the estimated 20% per annum mobility of teachers (graduate, trained and interns)
from the education system. 51/ Jamaica, it seems, has to be judged more on the
basis of how it meets these problems than on the basis of re-direction of system.
A new national plan for education is in the discussion stages and the
system is about to undergo substantial overhaul. The most recent changes and
introductions in the system therefore, have the character of purely interim
measures. The kinds of targets being proposed in the current discussion include
the following:
1.

provision of a place in school or of appropriate alternative
educational facilities for all children between the ages 6 and 15;

2.

automatic transfer of pupils from the primary to the secondary level;

3.

movement to the tertiary level based on manpower requirements;

4.

full supply of teachers for all levels of the system;

5.

development of the concept of total school including;
- political education

- manual work
- economic production
- school - community relationships
- cultural development
In discussing these targets, the Government has recorded its awareness of

50? Ministry of Education:
1973; Appendix I.
51/

The Education Thrust of the 70s, Jamaica,

The Education Thrust of the 70s, p.3.
- 63 _

a very wide range of problems already prest nt within the education system.
At the primary level the following can be listed as major problems:

52/

1.

Inadequate, outmoded physical plant with similarly deficient amenities;

2.

Shortages of materials for classroom use;

3.

An undesirably large proportion of untrained teachers;

4.

Poor distribution of trained teachers;

5.

Signficantly high incidence of late entry to school;

6.

Poor reading abilities among childres (approximately 50% of children
in Grades 7-9 read below Grade 4 levels);

7.

Malnutrition.

At the secondary level, it perceives the need for system rationalization
both in terms of entry requirements and standards expected. The following areas
of particular concern can be cited:
1.

Secondary education in different types of schools is unbalanced either over-practical or over - academic;

2.

Parental pressures insist on an academic orientation with a resultant
low self-concept among students in low prestige schools;

3.

Unbalanced distribution of teacher resources within the system;

4.

Secondary education has generally failed to produce positive work
attitudes;

5.

Vocational training suffers from fragmentation among several different
ministries.

In its 1975/76 budget, the Government of Jamaica provided J$138.5 million
or 22.7% of its recurrent expenditure for education, training and cultural
development. Under capital expenditure, J$38.9 million was earmarked for the
same area representing 10.5% of its total capital budget. Of these amounts,
J$129 million recurrent and J$25.8 million capital were allocated to the Ministry
of Education. 53/ It should be noted that the capital and recurrent expenditure
combined represents the second largest proportion of government expenditure (18.1%),
the largest being General Administration - 19.3%.

52/ It should be noted here that many of these problems are nos specific
to Jamaica, but they are discussed here because the government has articulated
its awareneness of them.
53/ Ministry of Education, Jamaica.
Kingston, 1976, Tables 6-1 and 6-2.
- 64 _

Education Statistics 1975/76.

Pre-primary level
Pre-primary (or Early Childhood) Education in Jamaica is offered in three
types of institutions: a) government financed infant schools and infant departments
of primary and all age schools; b) Basic Schools operated by private individuals
and non-governmental organizations; c) independent or private preparatoy schools.
In the case of the Basic Schools, the government provides a subsidy to those
schools which meet criteria stipulated by the Ministry of Education. These are
referred to as recognized basic schools. In 1977, 54/ there were 1,010
recognized basic schools with an enrolment of 70,649 children catered for by 1,023
teachers. Unrecognized basic schools numbered 629 with an enrolment of 25,321 and
a staffing of 628 teachers. 55/ The curriculum consists of basic social training
through play and is derived largely from materials compiled by the Centre for
Early Childhood Education at U.W.I. The government operates 26 infant schools
and infant departments in 69 primary and all age schools. Total enrolment is
21,361. 56/
Primary Education
Normal age of entry to the primary or all age school is 6 years. As
mentioned earlier however, this is not universal and there is a fairly high level
of later first registration. Insistence on registration at age 6 is impracticable
in view of the already overcrowded conditions of the primary sector. Indeed,
insistence on attendance after registration could be similarly embarrassed. Table
36 shows the distribution of schools and places and the excess enrolment for
Jamaica by parishes in primary and all age schools„some of which include infant
departments.
The severity of the under provision of places in the primary sector is made
less obvious in actual terms by the attendance figures. For Jamaica as a whole,
the average attendance for primary schools is 71% of enrolment and for all age
schools 63% of enrolment. 57/ Where low attendance does not reduce the problem,
some schools have been placed on a double shift system 58/, and in most cases
this has provided some relief. In the face of this predicament, compulsory
attendance cannot be seriously envisaged.

54/

Ministry of Education, private communication.

55/

The discrepancy of one school without a teacher is not explained.

56/
and 3-4,
57/

Ministry of Education:
Table 3-1A

Education Statistics 1975-76, Tables 1-2A

Education Statistics 1975-76.

58/ In the double shift system, two sets of children use the same buildings
at different times of an extended day. Each school has two staffs but a single
administrative head.
- 65
_

Table 36.

Jamaica.

Schools, places and overcrowding

in primary and all age schools, 1975-76, by parish.

N° of
schools

Parish

Capacity

Enrolment

% excess
enrolment

Kingston

27

26,552

30,650

15.4

St. Andrew

74

52,786

70,917

34. 3

St. Thomas

43

15,587

17,474

12.1

Portland

44

13,428

16,924

26.0

St. Mary

61

19,360

24,732

27.7

St. Ann

64

25,709

30,007

16.7

Trelawny

31

13,798

16,141

16.9

St. James

37

20,432

24,915

21.9

Hanover

34

10,891

.15,695

31.2

Westmoreland

56

20,787

25,431

22.3

St. Elizabeth

75

25,314

31,837

25.9

Manchester

59

26,401

30,369

15.2

Claredon

85

37,999

43,073

13.3

St. Catherine

85

44,957

55,030

22.2

775

354,001

433,195

22.3

Total

Source: Compiled from Tables 1-1 and 1-2, Education Statistics 1975/76.

The total number of teachers listed as operating in the primary sector is
10,790, 59/ of whom 9,907 are at the primary and all age schools. Of this group,
53% are considered as trained teachers. The overall ratio based on enrolment of
teachers to pupils in the primary schools 1:45 and in the all age schools 1:42.
Based however on attendance, the primary ratio is 1:34 and the all age ratio is
1:29. Tables 37A and 37B below show the ratios of teachers to pupils and trained
teachers to pupils based on both enrolment and attendance by parishes.

59/

Table 2-2 Education Statistics 1975-76.
- 66 _

Table 37A.

Parish

Kingston
St. Andrew
St. Thomas
Portland
St. Mary
St. Ann
Trelawny
St. James
Hanover
Westmoreland
St. Elizabeth
Manchester
Claredon
St. Catherine

Table 373.

Parish

Jamaica. Teacher: Pupil ratios by parish showing overall ratios
and trained teacher ratios, primary schools

Enrolment
Trained
Overall
Teacher
Ratio
Ratio

N° of
Teachers

327
615
169
137
104
179
72
154
104
258
293
121
394
340

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

61.
60
91
84
74
59
93
66
85
85
80
56
83
73

46
49
42
46
40
43
44
43
35
45
40
46
44
46

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

52
50
65
56
54
48
75
54
65
61
57
39
60
56

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

39
41
30
31
29
35
35
35
27
33
29
32
32
35

Jamaica. Teacher:Pupil ratios by parish showing overall ratios
and trained teacher ratios, all age schools

No of
Teachers

Enrolment
Trained
Overall
Teacher
Ratio
Ratio

Kingston
St. Andrew
St. Thomas
Portland
St. Mary
St. Ann
Trelawny
St. James
Hanover
Westmoreland
St. Elizabeth
Manchéster
Claredon

335
879
238
279
496
508
242
413
295
395
484
630
653

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

St. Catherine

793

1 90

6640

86

Total

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
i
1
1
1
1
1
1

Attendance
Trained
Overall
Teacher
Ratio

- 67 _

58
60 •
113
114
101
96
92
83
114
127
95
77
94

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

42
42
43
38
41
45
51
45
39
40
40
41
40
47
42

Attendance
Trained
Overall
Teacher
Ratio
Ratio
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

46
46
77
73
70
60
69
61
82
84
63
45
60
65
59

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

42
29
29
24
29
28
38
33
28
27
27
24
25
34
29

The state of primary education in Jamaica has been the subject of a very
extensive report 60/ which has documented the failings which the statistical
data provided here cannot reveal.
Secondary Education
Secondary schools in Jamaica are classified as:
a) new(er) secondary schools;
b) secondary high schools;
c) comprehensive, technical and vocational high schools;
d) independent schools.
The term new(er) secondary schools requires some explanation. In September
1974, 18,000 15 year olds who would have been leaving then the Junior Secondary
Schools in Grade 9 were offered additional education through to Grades 10 and 11.
The result was the conversion of the 3 year programme into a 5 year secondary
programme. The schools where this extension has been affected are now referred
to as newer secondary schools. Secondary high schools are the established
academic oriented secondary schools of Jamaica. Comprehensive, technical and
vocational are self-explanatory labels while independent refers to private
secondary schools not assisted by the government.
Free places and scholarships for entry to secondary high schools are
awarded on the basis of a common entrance examination.
In 1976, 34,773 children
wrote the examination and 6,211 (17.8%) were placed in secondary high schools.
It is important to note that a quarter of the children placed entered from private
fee-paying preparatory schools. The disproportionate share of the private sector
primary students in the placement at secondary level has been of sufficient
concern in Jamaica that in 1962, the government found it necessary to legislate
a mandatory maximum of 30% placement for students from these preparatory schools.
Figures for 1976 placement of the private schools as against the public sector
are not available.
In addition to entry by means of the C.E.E. , a small proportion of
students may enter secondary high schools, technical or comprehensive schools
on the basis of the Grade 9 Achievement Test. In 1976, 1,035 children (9,7%)
of a total of 10,613 who sat this examination were placed in secondary schools.
Finally, entry to technical schools can be gained by the 13+ examination but
the proportion of children admitted to secondary education through this route
is small. In 1976, 799 (6.4%) of a total of 12,454 entered for this examination
were placed.
According to the 1975-76 statistics on education, the government owns
and operates directly 62 newer secondary and technical, 3 vocational and 4

60/ Ministry of Education, Jamaica: Report in depth of Primary Education
in Jamaica. Unpublished 1974, 128 p. and appendices.

- 68 _

comprehensive schools. 61/ It also provides grants-in-aid to 42 secondary high
schools. The private sector comprises 418 registered independent schools offering
secondary education.
Is is significant that it is only by operation of the double shift system
in the newer secondary schools that their enrolments can be accommodated at all;
even so overcrowding is noted in Kingston, St. James, Westmoreland and St.
Catherine. Only in Manchester is there an oversupply of places in the secondary
high schools. Among the technical and comprehensives, it is only in Clarendon
that the technical sector has elbow room.
The secondary sector staffing (1976) comprised 7,580 teachers distributed
as follows: 62/
New secondary

3 ,436

secondary high

1 ,694

technical

294

comprehensive

169

independent

1 ,795

It is difficult to state the proportions of trained personnel for all
types of schools in the secondary sector since the main data source for 1976
(Table 2-3 of Educational Statistics) is, in the case of the new secondaries,
compiled from payroll data which uses criteria other than training levels of
classification. In the case of the secondary high schools, the data (Table 2-4)
does not separate trained graduates from untrained graduates. An indication
of training level is available though, for 1974.

61/ Another unpublished Ministry paper (1977) gives the following figures
new secondary - 71, secondary high - 44, comprehensive - 5, technical - 6,
vocational trade - 1. The discrepancy cannot be immediately explained.
62/ Source: Table 2-1 of Educational Statistics. Accuracy of these figures
is not guaranteed given their difference from other incomplete sources. In
particular, figures for newer secondaries and independent schools may be inaccurate.

- 69 _

Table 38. Jamaica.

Levels of teacher training in new secondary and
secondary

high,

197 4

Non-Graduates

Total

Untrained

Trained

Graduatef
Interns

Untrained

Trained

Specialist

New
Secondary

1,971

9.1

73.4

Secondary
High

1,325

7.4

13.0

31.5

0.7

40.9

2.4

16.3

3.2

Technical Education at the secondary level in Jamaica is offered in six
technical high schools with a 1976 enrolment of 4,939 students. Three of the
four vocational institutions have recently been integrated into new secondary
schools by the addition of grades 10 and 11 programmes leaving one institution
(Carron Hall) as the only separate institution of its kind.
Jamaicas traininf of teachers is conducted basically in 10 institutions
including the U.W.I. The 1975 output of teachers from these 10 was 1,110
teachers.
In addition, the College of Arts, Science and Technology trains
teachers of technical subjects, while teachers of agriculture pursue courses
at the Jamaica School of Agriculture (J.S.A.). The number of teachers in the
J.S.A. Agricultural Science Teacher Training Programme stood at 57 in 1975.
The College of Arts, Science and Technology is a major institution offering
diplomas and certificates in Building, Commerce, English, Institutional
Management, Science, Technical Education. The 1975 enrolment of both full
and part-time students was 3,547. Four community colleges with a total of
846 students in 1975 complete the formal education available under the aegis
of the Ministry of Education in Jamaica.
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobagos expenditure on education in 1976 was TT$270.6
million and representd 13.3% of the countrys total expenditure. Given that
75% of this was allocated to salaries, the provision is not as healthy as it
at first appears. Since the secondary sector is so large and the new programmes
require a high equipment maintenance and replacement cost, the financial
allocations per institution approach subsistence levels. The government is
however conscious of this shortcoming and in the school year 1977-78, a specific
allocation was made for maintenance and supply of the new secondary sector
at a substantial higher level than previously.
Primary level
The Government of Trinidad and Tobago is not up to the present formally

- 70 _

involved in pre-primary education. Schoolii.^ is compulsory from the age of 6
until age 14- but children are admitted to puulic (government or assisted) primary
schools at age 5 and may remain enrolled until age 15, unless selected for
secondary schooling at age 11+.
In 1976, 97.5% of the entire 5-11+ population of 199,120 children was
enrolled in public primary schools. Of the 462 schools, the government owned
only 113, the remainder being assisteddenominational.
Rapid expansion of the
secondary sector and a noticeable drop in the birth rate has placed Trinidad
and Tobago in the position of having, in gross terms, adequate capacity in its
primary schools. Table 39 shows the distribution of school places and enrolment
by planning regions.

Table 39.

Trinidad and Tobago.

Distribution of school places

and enrolment by planning regions

Surplus/
Deficit of
places

N° of
schools

Capacity

Enrolment

Port of Spain £ environs

70

36,592

35,170

1,422

St. George Central

60

31,594

29,694

1,900

St. George East

18

7,987

8,663

-676

North Eastern Counties

40

11,393

9,823

1,570

Caroni

63

25,380

27,165

-1,785

South Eastern Counties

22

7,486

7,336

150

Victoria

98

41,002

42,412

-1,410

St. Patrick

55

24,742

23,005

1,737

Tobago

36

11,043

9,315

1,728

462

196,549

192,583

3,996

Region

Total

It is only in St. George East, Caroni and Victoria that there are regional
shortfalls. The overall picture should not be interpreted to mean that overcrowing
is marginal. 63/ Indeed, far too many schools are still pressed for space; the

63/ It is important to note that the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of
Education uses a norm of 8 sq. ft. per child. Guyana and Jamaica use a norm of 10
sq. ft. per child.

- 71 _

problem of space redistribution within regions is of greater urgency. The main
deficiency of plant at the primary level is the outmoded character of the openhall partitioned schools which comprise the majority. Large numbers are in
urgent need of repair, reconstruction and re-decoration. According to Ministry
plans, this undertaking will be a main focus of the 1980s. The overall teacher:
pupil ratio in 1976 was 1:30 and the ratio of trained teachers (including
headteachers) to pupils was 1:47. Table 40 shows distribution and training of
teachers and teacher:pupil ratios by planning regions.

Table 40.

Trinidad and Tobago.

Distribution and training of teachers

and teacher: pupil ratios

Region

No. of
Teachers

No.
Trained

%
Trained

Overall
Teacher:
Pupil
Ratio

Trained
Teacher
to Pupil
Ratio

1,197

810

67.6

1:29

1:43

St. George Central

950

682

71.7

1:31

1:43

St. George East

256

167

65.2

1: 34

1:52

North East Counties

332

218

65.6

1:30

1:45

Caroni

843

571

67.7

1:32

1:47

South East Counties

242

121

50.0

1:30

1:61

1,371

922

67.2

1:31

1:46

St. Patrick

799

435

54.4

1:29

1:53

Tobago

315

164

52.0

1:30

1:56

6,305

090

64.8

1:30

1:47

Port of Spain  environs

Victoria

Total

The South-Eastern counties, St. Patrick and Tobago fall below the norm
for distribution of trained teachers. As far as the ratio of pupils to trained
teachers can be ascertained, St. George East, South Eastern counties, St. Patrick
and Tobago are less well served than the other districts.
- 72 _

Secondary Level
As elsewhere in the region, access to secondary education is by means of
a common entrance examination taken at age 11+. In 1976-77, 17,765 children
entered secondary schools on the basis of this examination. This figure
represented 62% of the eligible age cohort. 64/ At that time, total registration
in public secondary schools was 75,878. Some indication of the size of the
secondary registration is afforded by reference to 1975-76 school year approximately 55% of the 12-14 age group, and 31% of the 15-16 age group were
enrolled in* public secondary schools.

The 77 Dublic secondaries fall into several types on the basis of the
programmes offered. Twenty junior secondaries established between 1972 and 1977
offer the comprehensive programme which has been designated the national model
for the first 2 years of secondary education. Nine Senior Comprehensives offer
the national model follow-up five year programme which includes academic, pretechnician and specialized craft. Three Senior Secondaries offer a two year
academic an pretechnician programme but not specialized craft. The latter were
established at a time when government policy envisaged the development of separate
vocational schools. One Composite school offers both the three year junior
secondary and the two year senior secondary programme.

The remaining 44 schools offer conventional academic programmes for 5 years
to the 0 level examination and in some cases a 7 year programme to A! level
examination. Sixth form registration in 1975-76 was 2,479 which is 4,9% of the
17-18 age group of 50,530. 65/ Table 41 shows the regional distribution of
secondary school places.
Provision is made for the registration of private schools but statistical
returns from amy of these schools are frequently not submitted and often unreliable.
The Ministry of Education estimatesthat in 1976/77, 16,642 children were
registered in 79 such schools.

64/ No contemporary data on socio-economic bias on selection for secondary
schooling is available. Cross and Schwartzbaum (1969) ascertained a selectivity
index of 3.0 for children of professional and entrepreneurial fathers but at the
time access to secondary schools was so much more restricted that the figure is
more than likely inapplicable to the present situation.
65/ Age group comparisons are only rough indicators since the 6th Form
population included 226 children under 17 and 471 nineteen year olds.
- 73 _

Table 41.

Trinidad and Tobago.

Regional distribution of secondary

school places,

October 1977

School

Regions
Junior

Senior

Secondary

Comprehensive

Port of Spain S environs

7,680
9,600

3,128



Senior

Composite

Secondary

All
Age
Sec.

1,564

St. George Central

Type

3
O
r
+

1,400

1,564

St. George East
North Eastern Counties

1,440

Caroni

3,840

608
1,564

South Eastern Counties

760

Victoria

9,120

3,128

St. Patrick

5,760

0
)

P
J
H

H
(
H
t
r
H

n

3,128

Tobago
Total

962
37,440

14,076

3,122

608

Students who complete junior secondary education are placed in senior
secondary schools on the basis of a 14 examination. In 1976/66, 9,413 students
wrote the examination and were all placed. Those students who remained in the
post-primary section of the primary schools may write a primary school leaving
certificate examination.
In 1975-76, of 17,015 children writing that examination,
4,985 (19.2%) were awarded certificates.

Available information on levels of training of teachers in secondary
schools is considerably dated. However, information is available on the
educational levels of these teachers. Table 42 shows the proportions of
graduates to non-graduates in the secondary sector in 1977.

The difference in ratio of graduates to non-graduates between the Junior
Secondary schools and other secondary schools supports the observations made
earlier on the inequality of provisions for Junior Secondary Schools.
- 74 _

Table 42.

Graduate and non-graduates proportions secondary schools.
Trinidad and Tobago 1977

%

%

Total

Graduate

1,110

16.6

83.4

910

60.9

39.1

All age Secondary (Asst)

786

68.8

31.2

Senior Comprehensive

420

63.7

36.3

25

16.0

84.0

3,241

52.2

47.8

School Type
Junior Secondary
All age Secondary

(Government)

Composite
Total

Non-Graduate

Source: Figures provided by Ministry of Education and Culture, Planning Unit.

Technical and Vocational
The provisions for technical and vocational education in Trinidad and
Tobago are surprisingly low when one considers that even before 1974, the country
had a substantial industrial sector in petroleum and manufacturing. There are
only two technical institutes in the country - the John Donaldson Technical
Institute in Port of Spain and the San Fernando Technical Institute. Since the
last published educational statistics for the country date from 1971/72, details
of registrations cannot be provided here. The institutions offer 2 year fulltime day programmes, 3 year part-time programmes, day release and short term
courses leading to the National Technician Diploma and the National Craft
Certificate. For craft courses, minimum entry requirement is the Primary School
Leaving Certificate or equivalent
(variously determined).
Technicians
programmes require o level Mathematics, English and a science subject,
appropriate to the intended course of study, or a National Craft Certificate.
Courses offered within these institutions include Business Education and
Management, Distributive Education and Management, Graphic and Applied Arts,
Home Economics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical and Building Engineering.
In 1975, full-time attendance was 568 and part-time attendance 959. At the San
Fernando institute, full-time registration was 414 and part-time 741. In
addition, 1,078 apprentices were attached to establishments operating schemes
leading to national certification.
The Point Fortin Vocational Centre prepares students for craft level
certification only and had a total registration in 1975 of 350 part-time and

- 75 _

10+ full-time students. Five youth camps and six trade centres complete the
public provision for this sector. Students graduating from youth camps
numbered 875 in 1975 and from trade centres, 751 in the same year. The trade
centres and youth camps prepare students for the Craftsmans Assistant
Certificate.
This area of education has been the subject of a very recent report
66/
which will presumably be the basis for policy elaboration at some future date.
The recommendations of the report have organizational and regulatory
implications but hardly scratch the surface in an assessment of needs in the
country. It seems likely that the government will continue to rely on the
secondary comprehensive schools for technical skills and pre-training.
It is
doubtful whether this policy will bear fruit given the marginal provision for
preparation of teachers of technical subjects at this level.
The Eastern Caribbean Institute of Agriculture and Forestry provides two
year programmes for the trining of agricultural officers and forestry officers
drawn from Trinidad and Tobago and the Eastern Caribbean.
Teacher education for the primary sector in Trinidad and Tobago is
currently conducted at five colleges with an annual output of about 630 teachers
of which one college produces 330. The governments intention is to reduce the
number of training centres to two large establishments within the next two years.
The major current preoccupation of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago
is the industrialization of the economy. Since the oil crisis and the discovery
of large petroleum and natural gas resources in the exploitable territorial
waters of the country, there has been a shift in focus of the governments
perception of the future and consequently, in its plans for the education system.
The change of perspectives is stated in the submissions by the Prime Minister
to the Cabinet of the government as follows:
The original Education Plan formulated some ten years ago and agreed
to some two years after, was designed on the basis of a small relatively
poor developing country to provide a reasonably good education, for as
many of its citizens, but within very limited resources. It was also
formulated on the basis that Trinidad and Tobago has embarked on an
industrial development programme which was neither dramatic nor
revolutionary. This programme envisaged a slow evolution to light
manufacture but without any plan for heavy industrial development
particularly in the fields of petrochemicals and metallurgy. In fact,
the Plan coincided with severe recession in the oil industry of the day
even with its limited scope (the desertion of BP). This situation has
completely changed. Trinidad and Tobago is now on the threshold of
achieving its critical mass in the field of high level technology and
large-scale industrial development. Any educational plan must recognize
this with urgency. 67/

Craft
1976.

66/ Government of Trinidad and Tobago:
Training and National Apprenticeship

Report of Working Party
Scheme, Port of Spain,

on

67/
Prime Ministers proposals to Cabinet on education 18th September
1975 - Government Printery, 1975, p.8.
- 76 -

The Draft Plan for Educational Development 1968-1983 envisaged a norm of
2 years of secondary education with a 37% through-flow of pupils ti the senior
secondary school system. It also envisaged the development of technical and
vocational schools, as separate institutions to cater for 12% of the output of
the junior secondary schools. The proposals of 1975 shift the norm for postprimary education to 5 years, retaining the junior secondary school programme
for the first three years. It formally rejects the original idea of technical
and vocational training conducted in separate institutions and instead proposes
an integrated comprehensive programme embracing the traditional academic, pretechnician, commercial, general industrial and limited specialized craft
training, utilizing common facilities and with common management as the
national model for 14+ education. The proposals speak of assigning a proper
priority to technology within the education system and express the view that
isolation of vocational education from the traditional academic programme has
the serious dangers (p.6) of
(a) allowing the vocational sector to become a repository for droputs
from the junior and senior secondary areas;
(b) fostering social fragmentation;
(c) being difficult to staff;
(d) having high per capita costs.
In order to develop plans for this mid-course adjustment in policy, the
government appointed two separate working parties whose reports 68/ will
probably provide the guidelines for the policy elaboration.
It should be noted
that the decision to extend the norm for secondary schooling from 3 years to
5 years comes at a time when the secondary intake from primary school is in the
vicinity of 17,500 or 60% of the children sitting the Common Entrance Examination.
In other words, full provisons for the age cohort have not yet been effected.
Plans exist for the construction of 5 more senior comprehensives, 5 junior
secondaries and 4 composite schools.
The decision to extend the norm of secondary education to 5 years is one
which many more of the regions governments would like to able to make. It is
clear that the Trinidad government can afford the capital outlay. The problem
which the expansion poses is the problem of teacher supply and of curriculum
development.
The Government of Trinidad and Tobago has been singularly slow in
developing its capability for the training of teachers of technical and
vocational subjects. Although the development of this component of the
•education programme was envisaged within the Junior Secondary framework since
1968, it is only in 1977 that extension to the John Donaldson Technical
Institute has been undertaken to provide a wing for training teachers of

68/ Government of Trinidad and Tobago: Report of Working Party on
Education. Port of Spain, 1976, 148 p. Government of Trinidad and Tobago:
Report of Working Party on Craft Training and National Apprenticeship Scheme,
Port of Spain, 1976, 98 p.
- 77 _

technical subjects. This inverse planning procedure and the small output
envisaged for the programme augur badly for the effective expansion of technical
and vocational teaching required by the new focus on technology at both the
junior and senior secondary levels.
A less obvious point related to this expansion is that it will require
a major revision of curriculum materials and teachingprocedures in all areas
of education, not simply the areas of the new focus. Expansion of the numbers
of students who are moved from the primary to the junior secondary, and thence
to the senior secondary, increases the range of aptitudes with which the receiver
system must cope and decreases the number of valid assumptions about levels of
attainment that can be made. This circumstance demands a high level of attention
to the development of flexible teaching modules and methods for the curriculum
in these schools. There is no evidence that this consideration has entered the
planning processes of the Government. Unlike the Ministries of Guyana. Jamaica
and Barbados, the Ministry of Education and Culture of Trinidad and Tobago
continues to function without a formally constituted curriculum and materials
development unit. This error presages large scale failure of the expansion
effort in anything other than quantitative terms.In addition, the rate of
training of teachers has not been accelerated sufficiently to cope with the
expansion process envisaged.
The shift of emphasis to industrial technology as the future area of
development of the economy seems to have ignored the important consideration that
despite the size of its input to the economy, the petroleum sector is not a
high labour employer. Furthermore, each of the industrial ventures envisaged
is high in technological demand but low in labour requirement. Some re-valuation
of emphasis seems to be required if the education system is to achieve more than
a shift in the qualifcations of the unemployed and unemployable. The danger
inherent in the development of the Trinidad and Tobago system is that it risks
becoming a national training programme rather than a national education system.
These observations and the newness of the technological push should not
be allowed to over-shadow the rapid expansion and the qualitative
reorientation
of the secondary system which has taken place since the early sixties in Trinidad
and Tobago. Up to 1972. the only secondary education available within the
public sector (i.e. government and assisted secondary schools) was strictly
academic in its offering. Where other subjects were included, they were either
not examined or had low subscription as examination subjects. The first
attempt to re-orient the system came in 1961 when the government began a
programme of school construction with the intention that the new schools would
operate as three year comprehensives. However, the intention was not fulfilled,
because public pressure favoured conformity of the new schools to the existing
academic pattern. The new secondaries therefore became five year institutions
leading to the Ordinary level examination. The comprehensive pattern was
eventually established in 1972, with the initiation of the Junior Secondary
programme. This programme has been victim of the problems mentioned earlier but
despite this, stabilization of the pattern seems to be desirable within the
goals stated by the government.
The Government has mooted very recently the notion of community based

- 78 _

schools. 69/ The expression is too recent and unelaborated at this juncture to
permit further comment.
Windwards and Leewards
The education systems of the Windward and Leeward Islands have all the
problems of the rest of the region. Inadequate plant and low levels of teacher
education and training are exaggerated by the reduced possibility for rapid
improvement within their tiny economies. Almost all their activity in activity
in education, as in other areas of governmental responsibility, is at the
subsistence level of survival. Re-orientation of the educations systems faces
two major problems: firstly, unclear postures on directions of development
and secondly, the herculean task of operating a system with small numbers of
trained personnel.
Already, the levels of expenditures on the education in many of the
states are high in relation to total expenditure (e.g. St. Vincent - 22%,
Montserrat - 36%, St. Lucia 20%). Yet, most of this expenditure is tied up
in personal emoluments. Very little can be spent on materials, buildings or
programmes. Almost all of the much needed capital requirement for new
construction or improvements to buildings has to come from grants-in-aid.
Increase of the proportions of trained teachers implies increases in recurrent
expenditure without any provision for better personnel to function in better
teaching conditions.
It seems clear that regional pressures to expand secondary education
have had their effect in these states. Furthermore, the pressure to shift
to comprehensive style secondary education has begun to characterize their
efforts. There is little doubt that they need this type of shift but the
question must be put - will this shift have the same effect of neglect of
the primary sector as it has already had in the larger economies?
Neglect
of systems which are already so far below an acceptable standard would be a
disaster as much because it is the only level of education which a majority
of the citizens can hope to have, as because it predicts failure for any
secondary super-structure placed on it.
The curriculum in the smaller states is as much in need of review as
anywhere else. In the absence of implementable developmental plans which
the governments can really control, it is very difficult to determine useful
directions. The obvious area in which one can suggest a developmental thrust
is in agriculture. This is, however, sufficiently unfashionable and negatively
valued an area that decision-making can be easily imperilled by political
consequences. It would be folly, however, for these countries not to attempt
a significant re-development of this sector with a concomitant re-direction
of their education systems since there is no other natural resource which
might bail them out of their predicaments. Indeed, all of the governments
are conscious of the need to develop agriculture. St. Lucia is particularly
articulate on this point. Yet, there is little indication that the formation
of teachers of agriculture is being seriously envisaged within the established
teachers colleges. A recent statistical survey of Teachers Colleges

69/ Address by the Minister of Education and Culture to the Teachers
Section - of the Public Service Association, 21st.May 1977.
- 79 _

undertaken by the School of Education
70/ shows no provision for Agriculture
in the programmes of the Teachers Colleges of Dominica, Antigua, St. Kitts or
St. Lucia. In Grenada, Agriculture has the same time allocation in the first
year programme as Health Education/Nutrition, Religious Education, Reading,
Drama, Micro-teaching and student council activities, (i.e. one 4-0-minute
period per week). In the second year, it is optional with the same time
provisions.
In the St. Vincent first year programme, it has a more promising
time provision, the same allocation (200 minutes per week) as English/English
Literature (Secondary), Health Education/Nutrition, Industrial Arts, and
Physical Education. In the second year, it is optional but with an 80-minute
allocation per week. The implications of the above are clear. Agriculture
has not been integrated into the consciousness of the educational establishment
sufficiently deeply to be reflected in the training patterns of teachers or
into the normal school exposure of children.
Regardless of what developmental directions evolve in the future, the
problem of teacher supply needs to be solved. The establishment of the
individual island colleges is recent and will doubtless go some distance
towards improving the statistical statement on levels of teacher training.
The educational levels of the teachers though, will still require considerable
attention. Yet improvement of the system will still lag if the only
input
is higher proportions of trained teachers. Loss of teaching personnel to
migration or to other levels of the service is a serious difficulty.
In all
of the states of the region, the monolithic structure of the education sector
makes the nature of progress into a movement from teacher to principal to
education officer (ministry based) a standard procedure. Promotion in education
means that one stops teaching with further loss from the school system of
trained personnel. This practice of promotion and salary classification needs
careful review. There is no reason why the professional distinction between
the curriculum officer, the administrative officer and the teacher should not
be recognized to the extent of treating them as separate careers, all with
related goals, but each with its own promotional possibilities.

70/ Some statistics relating to Teachers College Organization in the
Eastern Caribbean 1976-77. School of Education, U.W.I. Cave Hill, April 1977.

- 80 _

V.

THE UNIVERSITIES

The University of the West Indies and the University of Guyana provide the
region with study, training and research facilities at the tertiary level.
Beginning in 1948 as a college of the University of London with a single campus
in Jamaica, the U.W.I, became an autonomous institution in 1962. It now operates
out of three campuses, the original Mona campus in Jamaica, St. Augustine in
Trinidad and Cave Hill in Barbados. In each of the English-speaking states, the
U.W.I. Department of Extra-Mural Studies maintains a presence by means of a resident
tutor and a university centre. Guyana was formerly a contributory territory to the
U.W.I, but withdrew and founded its own university in 1963.
The University of the West Indies is the victim of several problems related
to interaction between the nature of its structure, the method of its control and
funding, the financial resources of the region and the politics of the region.
First of all, there is no denying that it began as an elitist institution. It
therefore faces the internal problem of transition to a more functional and
service-oriented institution. The transition is clearly well in process.
Secondly, it is funded through the University Grants Committee by the several
governments of the region, only three of whom attempt to meet readily their
financial obligations and only one of which can clearly afford the growing expense.
Each of the goverments which has a campus in its country (i.e. Barbados, Jamaica
and Trinidad and Tobago) is reluctant to invest money in developments which fall
outside its country or which do not appear to be immediately beneficial to its
needs. Consequently, financial decisions become political power plays.
A third factor affecting the institution is that, depending on the warmth
or coolness of relationships between the three governments mentioned, and
specially the latter two, the integrity of the institution as a regional institution waxes or wanes. Governmental attitudes toward the institution and its
regional nature also vary depending on the extent to which faculty or students
of the institution are perceived as political threats to the ruling parties.
To these must be added a fourth consideration. The three campus structure
of the institution has become too unwieldy for a central administrative framework.
Yet, there is ambivalence within the University about decentralization, lest the
political factors mentioned above result in the absorption of each campus by the
government of the country in which it is located. The above conspire to reduce
the rate of expansion and efficiency of the institution and its ability to effect
even more fundamental change than it has achieved within the society which it
serves.
These several factors climax in the most recent threat to the U.W.I, as a
regional institution in the form of a White Paper 71/, published by the Government

71/ Government of Trinidad and Tobago: White Paper on National Institute
of Higher Education (Research, Science and Technology), Government Printery,
Trinidad, 1977. 39
- 81 _

of Trinidad and Tobago in 1977. The document suggests a number of modifications
in the structure and control of the U.W.I., which would have the effect of
decentralizing it and increasing the autonomy of the component campuses. It
would also impose greater financial responsibility on the governments of Jamaica,
Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago for the campuses within their states. In
themselves, the proposals appear to be most desirable with the exception of
certain details which need not be discussed here. However, they are largely
similar to proposals made from within the University but ignored by the governments
at an earlier date. Their modified re-appearance under the authorship of the
Trinidad and Tobago government at a time when that governments relationships
with other Caribbean governments are extremely poor and well nigh unto cold,
leaves some doubt about the motivation of the proposals.
The 1976/1977 registration of students at U.W.I, totalled 7 453 at all three
campuses - 1 105 at Cave Hill, 4 038 at Mona and 2 310 at St. Augustine. The
eight existing faculties are Agriculture, Arts and General Studies, Education,
Engineering, Law, Medicine, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences. Table 43 shows
the registration of under-graduate students for full-time degrees by campus and
faculty.

Table 43. Under-graduate student registration,
full-time degrees,1976-1977

Faculty

Campus
Cave Hill

Mona

St. Augustine

_
250

_
660
56

270
475

Agriculture
Arts and General Studies
Education
Engineering
Law
Medicine

( n v i a _ n 1 iri• î o n l
\ ¿•A. V, ^ - ^ X i J- . N « 4
1 —-.

Natural Science
Social Science

in other campus countries as well)
937
336
237
426
244
49

Total

-

-

31

240

776

-

441
26

a+* M/~\-r\ T» /*»» 1 tr /nl
-•«
W U I JW11U

2,667

1 ,772

-- - * - -i 1
r. , / .

Total
270
l s 385
56
441
297
C C 7

yj J

t

1,540
719
5,215

Source: Statistical information $n U.W.I, provided by Student Affairs
section of U.W.I, administration, St. Augustine.

The only faculty having a lower under-graduate registration than Agriculture
is Education. Lest this observation be misleading, it is necessary to add to
both faculties the registration for certificates, diplomas, and higher degrees,
particularly because most of the work of the School of Education is at the diploma
- 82 _

and certificate level. .There were 35 full-time and 37 part-time higher degree
students in Agriculture giving a total agriculture registration of 342 students
or 4.6% of the total University registration. Similar inclusion of higher degrees,
certificates and diplomas in Education increases the total faculty registration
to 425 or 5.7% of the total student registration. When compared with the
registration in Arts and Natural Sciences the figures in Education and Agriculture
look rather dismal.
Within recent years there has been a clearly increasing demand among
applicants for entry to the university for admission to the Faculty of Agriculture.
The continued overly modest registrations (when one considers the base of the
regions economy) relates quite clearly to inadequacy of governmental response to
requests for provision of increased facilities and funding of that Faculty. It
must be recognized too, that the growth in interest in the subject is relatively
recent and was unlikely to have been foreseen early enough by governments that
provision could have been made for expansion on a basis more appropriate to the
needs of the agricultural sector.
The case of Education is somewhat different. It is only recently that thé
regions governments have understood that graduate teachers need professional
training as prerequisites to their proper functioning. Up to 1973, only a very
small number of graduates were trained in Education at the Mona campus.
Graduates
of the Arts and Natural Sciences Faculties were absorbed into the regions
teaching services without further training as graduate teachers. Since that date
however, the governments of Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago have funded
programmes for the in-service training of their graduate personnel. At the
present time, plans are under discussion for the inclusion of Education as a
component of first degrees in the Arts and Natural Sciences Faculties.
The Faculty of Engineering, with a total registration at all levels of 464
students in 1976/1977, has become the focus of financial attention of the
Government of Trinidad and Tobago which sees its destiny in industry as discussed
earlier. The rate of future development of this faculty is likely to outstrip
that of all others at the St. Augustine campus. Medicine has also attracted
attention from the same government and there are plans for the development of a
• teaching hospital in Trinidad and Tobago and a consequent expansion of the
activities of the Faculty of Medicine.
One of the most sadly neglected areas of the institutions potential is the
area of adult education in territories not served by a campus. Part of the reason
for this is the maintenance of the inappropriate tradition that university
activity requires a campus base. The other part, and by far the most influential,
is the unavailability of funding within the countries that can benefit most from
non-campus public and adult education and the reluctance of those countries which
are better placed financially to spend money outside their territorial boundaries.
!

The most importantinput which the U.W.I, makes on a continuing basis to
education in non-campus territories is its service to teachers colleges in the
Eastern Caribbean. These colleges are supported in their efforts by university
staff participation in their teacher training and teacher assessment exercises.
In Jamaica, there is also a formal relationship between the School of Education
and the Teachers Colleges through the Joint Board of Teacher Training. No
similar formal arrangement exists in Trinidad and Tobago although staff of the
- 83 _

St. Augustine campus, as individuals, are involved in similar excercises.
Unlike the U.W.I., the University of Guyana does not depend on several
governments. The institution is funded by the Government of Guyana which appears
to exercise more direct control over its management than the other governments
appear to do in the case of U.W.I. The institution has five faculties - Arts,
Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Education and Technology. In 1975, the most
recent year for which figures are available, the distribution of students was
as shown in Table 44.
Table 44.

•Faculty
Arts
Social Sciences
Natural Sciences
Education
Technology
Special students
Total

University of Guyana: distribution of
students by faculty, 1975

Students
355
534
285
138
254
186

Percentage
20.2
30,5
16.3
7.9
14,5
10.6

1, 752

Source : Planning Unit, Ministry of Education and Social Development: A
digest of educational statistics 1974-75, Georgetown 1976.

It is worth noting that between 1966 and 1975, of the 1 557 students graduating
from the University of Guyana, 51.2% had been in degree courses and the remainder
in certificate and diploma courses. The registration pattern that this reflects is
in sharp contrast to that of U.W.I, where degree registrations accounted for 78% of
students. The University of Guyana has adopted a very direct approach to the need
for developing cadres of personnel who fit closely defined needs within the Guyanese
society. Consequently, their certificate and diploma programmes have been given
greater priority than at U.W.I. The two institutions appear to be attempting to
achieve different goals but the question is legitimate whether U.W.I, ought not to
be attempting to achieve similar goals in the specific design of shorter courses
to meet closely delimited developmental needs.

- 84 _

VI.

LANGUAGE AND DEVELOPMENT

Language and Development Problems
One of the most serious inhibitors to development within the Caribbean
region is wastage of human resources that can beattributed unequivocally to
problems of language, communication and language policies. Reference to the
states discussed in this study as English-speaking is a convenient inexactitude
which excuses itself simply because English is the official language of the states.
The fact of the matter is that English is, in this region, a superimposed language
which is not spoken natively by a vast majority of the populations. The most
easily recognizable examples are the cases of St. Lucia and Dominica. In both
these countries, there exist varieties of Creole referred to by linguists as
French lexicon Creoles and by their speakers as patois. Census estimates of
numbers of speakers are outdated but nevertheless worth citing. In 1946, 24,9%
of Dominicas population and 43.4% of St. Lucias were exclusive speakers of French
lexicon Creole. In addition, 68.3% of Dominicas population and 54% of St. Lucias
were listed as bilingual. This means that at that time, English monolinguals in
St. Lucia amounted to only 2.6% and in Dominica to 6.8%. Carrington (1967) offered
an impressionistic assessment that monolingual Creole speakers had decreased
significantly with a compensatory increase in bilinguals.
Although apparently less forbidding, the case of Trinidad is important.
Carrington, Borely and Knight (1974) reported on the extent to which pupils aged
5 to 11 years were exposed to languages other than English. Exposure covered use
of other languages by the children, being addressed in other languages within their
households, or hearing other languages used within their households. In that study,
46.4% of the sample of children were exposed to Bhojpuri, an Indie language of the
Bihar, brought from India with indentured labourers in the late 19th century and
early 20th century. French Creole is also part of the language complex of Trinidad
but with less influence on the school population than Bhojpuri.
Given that in Guyana 52% of the population are of Indian descent and of the
same historical provenience as the Indian population of Trinidad it is reasonable
to suppose similarly high importance of Indie languages. In addition to this,
Guyana retains small numbers of native speakers of at least 9 indigenous preColumban languages.
With the exception of the special cases of St. Lucia and Dominica, residents
of all the region use as their major daily language of communication different
varieties of English lexicon Creole and creolized dialects having historical
evolutions similar to that of the French lexicon Creoles. The co-existence of
those speech varieties with English over several centuries has resulted in a
complicating factor - the Creoles impressionistically and technically are not
easily separable from English. Sets of overlapping quasi-dialects provide a link
between English on the one hand and what may be described as basic Creole. The
existence of this post Creole dialect continuum contributes to the persistence
of strongly negative attitudes toward the Creoles in the region.

- 85 _

Attitudes toward Creoles
The regional Creole languages are considered by most of the population to
be inferior, badly spoken, ungrammatical, unwritable versions of the standard
languages to which their vocabularies are historically related. Their low prestige
aeises from their genesis in the European colonial expansion, the slave trade and
the plantation society as well as from the long years of prejudices against black
peoples and their cultures within the region. The proposition of ungrammaticallity
is given credence by the absence of popularly accessible descriptions of the
grammars of these languages and by the historical accidents which prevented the
evolution of a recognized standard variety of Creole.
Within the framework of the education systems it is not until the 1970s
that any official language syllabuses have discussed the existence of Creoles and
their educational implications with any degree of enlightenment. Prior to this
the languages have been variously proscribed, ignored or rejected as nuisances
causing persistent errors in English which have to be eradicated by punishment
and drastic language drills in English grammar
(most of which have doubtful
practical value).
Consequent upon the above, children who enter school with no language other
than their Creole vernaculars undergo severe psychological trauma from the
institutional rejection of their language and, by inference, their thought. The
inappropriateness of the methods used for teaching English has for years ensured
that a majority of the school population (and ultimately the entire population)
achieves less than workable proficiency in English. This automatically affects
the extent to which any knowledge presented in that language can be assimilated.
Within the regiqns classrooms then, conflict between the childrens language and
the official language is continuous. The effectiveness of all teaching is reduced
by the lack of validity of the language teaching procedures and the absence of a
clearly articulated policy on language supported by appropriately developed .
curriculum materials.
The Effects of Language Conflict
The economic loss of stunting the growth of skills within the society by
excision of vernacular languages from public education systems as accepted languages
of instruction or as powerful conditioning factors of language teaching and
general educat ion is immeasurably great
72/. Low competence in the use of the
72/ There has been no research which has directly measured the loss.However,some
indication of likely man (and brain) power loss can be gained from the following extract
from The Education Thrust of the 70s /fhich shows differences in scores of Jamaican students
at three levels of examinations in mental .ability, language and mathematics: The mental
ability of the students is not matched by their basic educational attainments in language
and mathematics. For the nine years of education for pupils of 6-15 years old the point is
best illustrated by results in three critical selection (or rejection) examinations.The
following are the percentage passes at over 40% of the marks in each case:
Examination

Mental Ability

Common Entrance, 11+
Technical High, 13+
Grade Nine,
15+
(page 4, op.cit. ). Jamaica is by

Language

Mathematics

24
71
15. 5
11.0
71
11
80.6
29.6
21.4
no means unique in this disparity of scores.
- 86 _

official language resulting from these considerations reduces the rate at which
the countries of the region can generate the professional and managerial level
personnel needed for their development.Quite apart from this direct diminution of
manpower evolution, the psychological damage in inhibiting the growth of articulate
public expressiveness in the official language reduces the capacity of the
societies to generate new ideas appropriate to their needs. Instead there is
persistent boirrowing of solutions to problems with the language/culture in which
these solutions have been conceived. The region hence remains an importer not
only of materials but of ideas.
Policy development
The Ministries of Education in Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago
have begun to come to terms with these problems. In the case of Jamaica, the
ministrys position is summarized in the preamble to the English syllabus for
grades 7-9:
English is the official language of Jamaica. Nearly all our
children learn to speak Jamaican Creole, which has taken nearly
all its vocabulary from English but much of its syntax from
other sources; but in order to play a productive role in modern
Jamaican society, they must be able to communicate effectively
and accurately in English. We must strive to make Jamaican
children highly competent in the Language most widely spoken
in the world, while teaching them to appreciate the local Creole.

The Hamaican ministry has been actively engaging in the preparation and
testing of language teaching materials that are based upon a clear appreciation
of the linguistic facts of the co-existence of English and Creole. These efforts
are conducted in close collaboration with the School of Education at the U.W.I.
Mona campus.
This type of collaboration is not present in the case of Trinidad and
Tobago for very special political reasons. Equally non-existent are any efforts
within the Ministry,or sponsored by them, to develop appropriate curriculum
materials in English language. These absences effectively vitiate the promise
of improved approaches contained in that ministrys 1975 publication of a new
syllabus for primary schools.
In the case of Guyana, the Ministry of Education through its curriculum
development unit is actively producing experimental language teaching materials
which, like those of Jamaica, show enlightened modern approaches. Nowhere else
in the region is there any formal commitment to evolving rational language teaching
procedures although a sizeable literature has been generated by the regional
Universities on the need for such procedures and on the techniques for achieving
them. There is an urgent need for active consideration in all of the regions
countries of language policies that would improve the effectiveness of public
education and popular participation in developmental movement. These policies
must also achieve revaluation of the vernaculars to the point of achieving
confidence of the people in the validity of their thought and expression.

- 87 -

VII.

OVERVIEW

Within the limitations mentioned in the introductory remarks, this study
has presented a summary description of the economic condition of the Englishspeaking Caribbean region and a documentation of the major provisions for formal
education in terms of plant, personnel and system operation. Critical observations
have been made on various aspects of the education systems. But these observations
only partially examine education and development in the region. One has to probe
much deeper to recognize the nature of the real, the potential and the desirable
relationship between education and development.
Over the past fifteen to twenty years, the main concerns throughout the
region have been quantitative expansion of the provisions for education - school
buildings, numbers of persons employed as teachers and numbers of certificate
holders among school leavers. Insofar as this has been a goal, the region has
not been static. Every country has improved its ability to school its citizens
and if one were examining achievement, the movement could be termed successful,
in some cases highly successful. This thrust has been necessary for several
reasons. Firstly, ana very importantly, it has served to increase the proportion
of citizens who are literate. Secondly, it has fulfilled and is fulfilling the
socio-historically based desire of the mass of the population for its children
to benefit from exposure to what was formerly only offered to the upper classes
of the society. Thirdly, it has provided the indispensable cadres of functionaries
for the regions governments and other institutions. The importance of this cannot
be denied. However, all of this has been undertaken in most countries (in all,
until recently) by reference to a past rather than to a future.
Let us take the case of expansion of secondary education. The political
motivation for this expansion derives from a consciousness within the society of
injustice in the colonial reservation of secondary education for the privileged
classes. The first effect (and perhaps intention) of an expansion on this basis
is the creation of a new class of privileged nationals. Since it is generated
by a desire to remedy social injustice, the expansion process cannot stop at class
replacement or class creation;it must continue logically to expand towards apparent
equality of opportunity. All that this can achieve is exposure, ultimately, of
all citizens to an education that can be demonstrated to be irrelevant to many of
their personal needs and those of their society.
It is imperative then, that system expansion have some reference point other
than simple social fairness. A philosophy of national development seems to offer
such a reference point. Unfortunately, what exists in most of the Caribbean countries
are development plans not philosophies of development. The latter are only very
recently beginning to become evident.

development plans within the region have to a great extent involved attempts
at industrialization using foreign capital and imported technology in the hope or
with the intention that these investments would stimulate economic growth. When
such growth begins to take place, the previously mentioned desire to replace the
foreigner propels the education system into a new type of expansion. Demands for
a specific type of skill within the labour market invite the government to provide
training for that area - a training which becomes appended to the educational

- 89 -

system. Hence, the modification of the range of secondary education is impelled
by the creation of a new area of life in the country in which foreigner replacement
must be effected. The education system is borne along in the wake of development
plans, attempting to cope by superficial change. This suggested model seems
adequate to characterize the expansion pattern of education in the region.
The absence of a clearly stated philosophy of development inhibits the
evolution of an educational philosophy which might allow schools to affect the
total psyche of those exposed to formal education in a manner appropriate to the
societys needs. The tendency instead, is to append new components to systems
whose central core has not been generated by the societies which they are being
required to serve. The philosophical vacuum reduces educational planning to an
exercise in arithmetic calculation of places, teachers and costs, to supervision
of building construction and design, to cleverness in the semantic sleight-of-hand
which transforms post-primary departments into secondary departments without
children or teachers changing routines; it permits the self-deception of conducting
mainly academic education in institutions labelled comprehensive and of paying
lip-service to the dignity of manual skills while negating that dignity institutionally.
The Government of Guyana has articulated a philosphy of development which
appears to be making inroads into all public activity. This philosophy is reflected
at the level where in the long term it will count most - the level of teacher
education. The Government of Jamaica too, is beginning to shape a philosophy which
can have similar effect. Trinidad and Tobago has made a developmental decision,
but this cannot be viewed as a philosophy since it lacks the holistic integrity
that one expects of a philosophy.
Despite the development of comprenhensive curricula at the secondary level,
the traditional academic orientation can be demonstrated to be the primary core of
the educational system of the region. It has been its historical starting point
and remains its central reference point. First of all, teaching at the primary
level is geared to preparing students, not for secondary education, but for the
entrance examination for these schools. The test for entry is academic in type.
If all aspects of either the primary or secondary curriculum had equal weighting,
the selection machinery would include assessment in areas which would neutrally
determine a childs suitability for different styles of secondary exposure. Instead,
the evaluation is simply: suitable for academic versus not suitable for academic
- therefore, comprehensive, technical or vocational. Assignment to non-academic
programmes is institutionalized as a negative evaluation.
The proposition is supported by a second fact. There is absolutely no doubt
that students, under the influence of adults within the society, prefer to opt for
subjects which lead them into traditional clerical functions or into unemployment
despite over supply of such persons, high demand for other skills in the labour
market and higher wages in other sectors of the economy. Yet another proof of the
academic core is the differential staffing of traditional secondary schools mainly
with graduates and the new, variously labelled comprehensive schools mainly with
non-graduates in a system which values the former type of staff (whether
professionally trained or not) higher than the latter. Finally, the reversed
order of planning in which appropriately trained teachers of technical and
vocational subjects are sought after schoools needing them and their services are
stablished, suggests insufficient valuation of their importance to the system.

- 90 -

The reference points of the school sj stem have been as foreign as the system
itself. This is understandable, but what is less readily explained is that this
4iould have lasted so long. The recent establishment of the Caribbean Examinations
Council (1973) is the first step towards breaking the foreign reference points.
If the Council resists the push to become a Caribben based replica of Cambridge
or London examining authorities, the direction of curriculum movement at all
levels in the schools system can be substantially influenced.
The influence may lie not only in the nature of the syllabuses for which the
examining authority will cater, but in the very fact of the authority being
regionally based. That symbol of regional sef-assessment should invite some
transformation of the regions perception of what criteria the education system
should attempt to fulfil.
The place of agriculture in education in the region is out of keeping with
its role in the economy of the region. Its function as a major sector in the
generation of the gross domestic product of all the countries (except Trinidad
and Tobago), its importance in earning foreign exchange and further in employing
a large percentage of the labour force appears to be uninfluential in determining
its place in education. These remarks do not exclude Trinidad and Tobago despite
its lower dependence on this sector in its external trade, for agriculture still
provides a large employment base in that economy. Furthermore, the size of the
food import bill in the region suggests that much of the capital that might be
invested in socially desirable enterprises is flowing outwards without hope of
recovery. If these outflows are to be reduced, greater attention will have to be
paid to self-sufficiency in food either by diversified production or by change
of palate or both. Without question then, the educational sector has to be redirected to focus on the obvious need for development of the agricultural sector.
Indeed, it is not simply a question of sectoral development, it is a matter of
mental readjustment of the populations relationship with its environment.
All the new curricula include agriculture as part of the secondary programmes.
There is also inclusion at the primary level. Shortage of staff and inadequacy
of training levels have already been recognized here. So too has the effort to
change that shortcoming. In addition to the provision of staff and facilities for
agriculture within the framework of school, what seems to be needed is a publicly
understood ethic relating to agriculture within the society. That ethic must
derive from the philosophy of development. Without it, Agriculture will become
another subject to be failed or passed and forgotten at the end of the experience.
The above proposition recognizes fully that the history of the region as a
plantation economy is an important hindrance to the evolution of workable policies
on agricultural education. Bus the history will always be there and cannot be
changed. This leads to a further prerequisite of greater fit between education
and development. The region needs to attempt major education of the public on the
nature of education. A revision of consciousness has to be deliberately initiated
with a view to reducing public resistance to all but the stereo-typed forms of
schooling which it considers to be education. Civic re-education must be dynamically
conceived with attitudinal change as its main goal. Attempts to effect attitudinal
change towards work, productivity, language or food cannot be restricted to the
school system. They must be accompanied by public, adult-level programmes which
will exploit the influence of adults over children in the interest of national
development.

- 91 -

It is not within the scope of this study to examine the politics of the
regions separateness into a chain of small states and tiny states. It is
sufficient to note that the Windward and Leeward states operate such restricted
budgets that it is difficult to see how they could possibly spe^id more than their
current proportions of revenue on education. Their solution to their developmental
problems and the relationship of the education systems to them will doubtless have
to be substantially different from the solution likely in Jamaica, Barbados,
Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. Regardless Of the likely difference in their
possible solutions, they all share the common need to improve their efficiency
in implementation of plans in education. This efficiency must relate to planning
logic as well as to plan execution. It must also be borne of close collaboration
between economic planners and educational planners.
Within the stated intentions of the regions governments the record of
expansion of their system is not to be scoffed at. Clear documentable improvement
of basic provisions for education has been made. It is to be hoped that a
philosophy of development to which an educational philosophy can be linked will
evolve within the near future in each of the regions states.

- 92 -

SUMMARY - RESUME - RESUMEN

As stated by the author in the introduction, This study aims at providing
a concise summary of the state of education in the English-speaking countries of
the Caribbean in general but with special emphasis on Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica,
and Trinidad and Tobago. The frame of reference for outlining the relationship
between education and development is constituted by the economic conditions and
social prospects of each country.
The first chapter contains an overall economic description of the region,
with statistical indicators of its domestic and foreign trade, productivity
levels, industrial sectors, etc.
With the exception of Trinidad, whose principal
production is the petroleum industry, the common base is agriculture. The overall
economic picture is completed in the next chapter with the description and
comparison of the labour force, according to its education levels.
In the third chapter the author gives a detailed description of the British
education system adopted in the region, its development and transformations in
each level, and common problems arising in the region. After the various countries
obtained their independence, the British system, with different peculiarities for
each country was accepted as the national system.
The fourth chapter is devoted to education in each of the countries mentioned
above: its own organization, types of schools,., selection of schools, quality of
teachers, educational plant and infrastructure, statistical information. In
Jamaica and Guyana, their political socialist orientation is reflected in the
direction and goals of education.
The fifth chapter is devoted to the universities, which are only two: the
University of the West Indies, with its headquarters in Jamaica and campuses in
Trinidad and Barbados, and the University of Guyana. Their organization,
background, development and present status are described in this study, as well
as the careers offered by the existing faculties.
The sixth chapter, entitled Language and Development, deals with the
subject of multilingualism in the region: although the official language is English
and general literacy
is based on this language, there are others of Oriental
and African origin, as well as various forms of Creole and dialects spoken by a
relatively high percentage of the population; this is undeniably a source of
difficulties for national integration, creates tension and seriously hampers the
goals of education of children and curtails their possibilities of reaching
higher levels of education.
In the last chapter the author questions the adoption of an educational
model that does not take into account the regions needs. He remarks on the
lack of a true philosophy of development, with the logical consequences on
educational policies: a traditional academic orientation prevails, and agriculture
- the main economic activity in nearly all the countries - does not occupy its
proper place in education. He concludes by stressing the need to improve
efficiency in the implementation of education plans with the co-operation of
economic and educational planners.

- 93 -

Tel que lauteur annonce dans lintroduction, lobjet de cette étude tient
à donner un résumé concis sur létat de léducation dans des pays anglophones
du Caraïbe, mettant particulièrement laccent sur ceux de la Barbade, la Jartïque,
la Trinité, la Tobago et la Guyane. Les conditions économiques et les perspectives sociales de chaque pays constituent le point de repère pour mettre en relief
les rapports existents entre éducation et développement.
Au premier chapitre, on trouve une description générale sur léconomie de
la région avec des indicateurs statistiques se rapportant à son commerce interne
et externe, aux niveaux de productivité, aux secteurs industriels, etc. A exception faite de la Trinité dont la production principale est celle du pétrole,
lagriculture est la plus grande activité économique. Au deuxième chapitre,cette
vue économique générale est complétée par la description et la comparaison de la
force du travail daprès les différents niveaux déducation.
Au troisième chapitre, on fait une minutieuse description du système déducation anglais implanté dans la région, développement et changements dans chacun
des niveaux ainsi que les problêmes que ledit système pose dans la région. Après
1indépendence des différents pays, ce système devient national présentant quelques particularités y efférentes.
Le quatrième chapitre est consacré à léducation dans les pays nommés cidessus dont: organization propre, type de scolarité, sélection scolaire, qualité denseignants, emplacement et infrastructure éducatifs, information statistique.
La direction et les objectifs de léducation à la Jamaïque et à la Guyane répondent à une orientation politique socialiste.
Le cinquième chapitre est consacré aux universités.
Il nen a que deux:
celle the University of West Indies dont le siège principal se trouve à la Jamaïque, ayant des campus sectionnels à la Trinité et a la Barbade, et celle the
University of Guyane. On y en montre 1organization, le curriculum, le développement, létat actuel ainsi que les carrières offertes aux facultés existentes.
Au sixième chapitre, nommé Langues et développement, lauteur aborde le
sujet du multilanguisme dans la région. Il y explique que langlais est la langue officielle et que toute lalphabétization sest développée en anglais mais
quil y en dautres dorigine orientale et africaine ainsi que plusieurs formes
de créole et de dialecte parlés par un nombre assez grand de la population.
Ceci pose dindiscutables problèmes en vue de lintégration nationale; provoque
tension et rend vraiment difficile les objectifs à atteindre sur léducation
des enfants ainsi que les possibilités de réussite des niveaux supérieurs de la
scolarité.
Au dernier chapitre, lauteur met en question ladoption dun modèle éducatif que na pas compte de besoins de la région. Il remarque labsence dune
véritable philosophie du développement et ses inéluctables conséquences sur les
politiques éducationnelles.
Cest ainsi que lorientation académique traditionnelle a une place prépondérante tandis que lapprentissage rapporté à lagriculture - source de la plus grande activité économique dans presque tous les pays na pas celle quelle devrait avoir dans léducation.
Il conclue du besoin dune
meilleure application des plans déducation comptant sur laide des planificateurs économiques et éducatifs.

- 94 -

Como lo anticipa el autor en la inti • Jucción, el estudio tiene como objetivo dar un resumen conciso del estado de ia educación en los países de habla
inglesa del Caribe en general pero con especial mención de Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica y Trinidad 6 Tobago. El marco de referencia para poner de relieve las
relaciones existentes entre educación y desarrollo lo constituyen las condiciones económicas y las perspectivas sociales de cada país.
En el primer capítulo se encuentra una descripción económica general de
la región, con indicadores estadísticos sobre su comercio interior y exterior,
niveles de productividad, sectores industriales, etc. Con la excepción de Trinidad cuya producción principal es la industria del petróleo, la base común es
la agricultura. Esta visión económica general se completa en el capítulo siguiente con la descripción y comparación de la fuerza de trabajo según sus niveles de educación.
En el tercer capítulo el autor hace una descripción pormenorizada del sistema de educación inglés implantado en la región, su desenvolvimiento y transformaciones en cada uno de los niveles y problemas comunes que presenta en la
región. Después de la independencia de los diferentes países, se convierte en
el sistema nacional, con algunas peculiaridades en cada caso.
El capítulo cuarto está dedicado a la educación en cada una de las naciones citadas arriba: su organización propia, tipos de escolaridad, selección escolar, calidad de docentes, planta e infraestructura educativas, información
estadística.
Los casos de Jamaica y de Guyana responden a orientación política
socialista, lo que se expresa en la dirección y objetivos de la educación.
El quinto capítulo está dedicado a las universidades. Sólo hay dos: the
University of the West Indies, cuya sede principal está en Jamaica y tiene campus seccionales en Trinidad y Barbados; y the University of Guyana. Cada una
es presentada con su organización, antecedentes, desarrollo y estado actual y
las carreras que ofrecen las facultades existentes.
En el capítulo sexto, titulado Lenguas y desarrollo, el autor aborda el
tema del multilingüismo en la región: aunque la lengua oficial es el inglés y
la alfabetización se ha desarrollado sobre la base de dicha lengua, hay otras
de origen oriental y africano, lo mismo que varias formas de creóle y dialectos,
hablados por porcentajes de población relativamente altos, lo que constituye una
fuente de problemas innegables para la integración nacional, crea tensiones y
dificulta seriamente los objetivos de la educación de los niños y sus posibilidades de logro de los niveles superiores de la escolaridad.
En el último capítulo el autor cuestiona la adop ción de un modelo educativo que no tiene en cuenta las necesidades de la región. Comenta la carencia
de una verdadera filosofía del desarrollo, con las lógicas consecuencias sobre
las políticas educacionales: prevalece la orientación académica tradicional, y
el aprendizaje relacionado con la agricultura - que es la fuente de mayor actividad económica en casi todos los países - no ocupa el lugar que le corresponde
en la educación. Se concluye postulando la necesidad de mejor implementación
de los planes de educación con el aporte de planificadores económicos y educativos.

- 95 -

APPENDIX I
Dependency r a t i o s
Indices of the burden of dependency borne by members of the labour force
are provided by Abdullah (1977). The table below is extracted from that source.
Method of calculation is not economically active ^ ^ qqq
economically active


English-speaking Caribbean, 1970
(Dependency Ratios)

1970

State

n .a.
1,639
2,334
2,267
2957
2,342
1,980
2,484
2,486
2,715
2,270

Antigua  Barbuda
Barbados
Dominica
Grenada
Guyana
Jamaica
Montserrat
St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla
St. Lucia
St. Vincent
Trinidad £ Tobago

Source: Abdullah, N.: The Labour Force in the Commonwealth Caribbean:
Statistical Analysis, I.S.E.R., 1977, Table 9, p. 23.

- 97 -

APPENDIX I I
Notes on the l a b e l s foi

types o f s c h o o l s

The labels which are applied to schools relate to the ages of the pupils,
the programmes which they follow, ownership and funding of the schools.
On the basis of funding the schools may be divided into public and private.
The descriptors which indicate private sector institutions are private, independent,
unaided, and (at the primary level only) preparatory.
The public sector includes all schools for which financial provision is made
by the government. On the basis of ownership they fall into two categories:
- schools wholly owned by the government and designated government;
- schools owned by religious groups, lay organizations or citizens and
described as assisted, aided, approved or recognized.

Pre-primary education
The education of children between the ages of 3 and 5 years is conducted in
institutions (or parts of institutions) called infant schools (departments),
nursery schools, kindergarten or basic schools. The term basic school is used in
Jamaica, to refer to private infant schools. It should be noted that in Barbados
the terms infant school refers to schools catering for the 5-7 age group and
contrasts with nursery school which refers to under-5.

Primary education
The term covers the education offered to children between the ages of 5 and
11 years. Children of these ages may be found in either of two types of schools
in the public sector:
- primary schools
- all age schools
An all-age school differs from a primary school in that it caters for
children aged 12-15 as well. In a few isolated cases there are schools having
enrolments between the ages 7-11 and these are referred to as junior schools.
In the private sector, schools catering for the 5-11 age group are called
preparatory schools.
The education of the 11-15 age group is one of the areas of transition in
the region. Some of it takes place in institutions called all age schools and
the rest in schools described as secondary. Where the age group is provided for
all age schools the following terms refer:

- 99 -

- post primary department
- secondary department
- top of the primary (Guyana)

Secondary education
Two styles of secondary schools exist - the traditional academic and the
comprehensive. The labels in use are as follows:
- Academic style
- Barbados :

grammar, older secondary

- Guyana:

senior secondary (where a Sixth Form is included)
junior secondary (where no Sixth Form is included)

- Jamaica:

secondary high

- Trinidad £
Tobago:

secondary

- Comprehensive style
- Barbados :

comprehensive, newer secondary

- Guyana:

multilateral, community high

- Jamaica:

newer secondary, comprehensive

- Trinidad 
Tobago:

junior secondary (to age 14)
senior secondary (age 14-17)
senior comprehensive (age 14-17)
composite age (11-17)

In the case of Trinidad and Tobago, senior secondary differs from senior
comprehensive in not having the same craft component. Composite schools combine
the junioi secondary and senior comprehensive programmes within a single
institution.

Technical and Vocational Education
Apart from such technical and vocational exposure as is offered in the
programmes of comprehensive schools, there are schools which are specifically
designated as technical or vocational. There is no ambiguity in the labels.

- 100 -

APPENDIX

III

Data for the Windwards and Leewards are compiled in this appendix for
reference. The information varies from one territory to the other but all relevant
available information is included, a/

Antigua
General educational objectives 1974-75:
Ci)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
(vi)

integration of education system;
new curriculum for first three years of secondary
education - comprehensive;
increase in quantity of staff;
improvement in quality of staff by shift to two
year training programme ;
review of school texts in use;
expansion of education planning unit;
(p.1-2 of Source 3).

Plant
1975-76

Primary schools

-

public
private

Secondary schools -

public
private

32
26
8
9*

(including 8 previously
counted at primary which
have secondary and primary
grades.)

(Source 1)
Enrolment
1975-76

Primary schools

-

public
private
Total

Secondary schools -

9,374
3,501

(1,545 in post primary)

12,875

public
private

3,532
1,552

Total

5,084

a/ No information is available for Dominica except the enrolment at the
Teachers* College - 49 in 1977. Staffing full-time 5; part-time 11.

- 101 -

Compulsory schooling ages 5-16
Primary to secondary promotion:

1.

by examination at age 12;

2.

automatic in Eastern section of
island;

3.

by examination at age 15.

All secondary schools are comprenhensive types except Antigua Grammar
School. Post-primary sections of primary schools follow comprehensive
secondary
programmes except that they do not offer modern foreign languages.
Participation rates
197L.-76
Age group

5-11
12 - 15
15 - 19

79%
70%
35%

Calculated from Source 1.
Teachers 1975-76
P R I M A R Y

Public

409

243

Private

146

34

Teacher :
Pupil Ratios

1: 23

1:39

23.2

Ho.
Trained

Teacher:
Pupil Ratios

59.4

Total

1: 24

1:103

%
Trained

S E C 0 N D A R Y
Total

Public
Private

179
67

Graduates
Trained
Untrained
26
10

24
10

Non--Graduates
Trained Untrained
70
9

59
38

%
Trained

%
Graduate

53.6
28.3

27.9
29.8

Technical College 1975-65
Students - 215 including part-time and short courses.
Includes : Commercial training, Hotel and catering
skills,
Engineering trades, Construction trades.
1974 : Industrial arts centres operational - 10 catering to 1038
boys but slow down in programme in 1975.
Programmes include woodwork, drafting and principles
of design. Metal work at one centre.

- 102 -

ToapVion •
Pupil Ratios
1:20
1:23

Teachers College (1977) (Source 4)
Students

- 93

Staff : full-time
part-time

-

Entry requirements -

9
4
a)

4 0 levels including English
language or Mathematics; and

b)

Two years teaching experience

Teachers college and technical college administered by one principal from
April 1977.
Expenditure on education
1975

EC$ 6.2 million

1976 (budgeted)

EC$ 7.6 million

5.7% of GDP
13.7% of total budgeted expenditure
including foreign aid

Expenditure on personal emoluments within education allocation
1975

Sources:

43.5%

1976

39.8%

1) Educational Statistics Unit: Antigua Educational Statistics

1975-76, Antigua, undated. 2) Statistics Division: Antigua - Statististical
Yearbook 1976. Antigua, 1976, 96 p. 3) State of Antigua and Barbuda: Report of
Education Division 1974 and 1975. Antigua 1976, 47 p. 4) School of Education:
Some Statistics relating to teachers college organization in the Eastern Caribbean
1976-77. Cave Hill, 1977, 6 p. mimeo. 5) Antigua and Barbuda: Report of the
Education Division 1974 and 1975, Ministry of Education, Health and Culture, 1976,
47 p.

Grenada
Plant 1975-76
Primary schools
(government and grant-aided)

63

Secondary schools
(government and grant-aided)
- Junior Secondary
- Comprehensive
- Grammar

-2
-8
-4

- 103 -

14

Enrolment 1975-76

26,255

Primary schools
Secondary
-613
-2,832

- Junior
- Comprehensive
- Grammar

-1,622

5,067

Teachers 1975-76
P R I M - R Y
Total

No.
Trained

786

286

%
Trained

Teacher :
Pupil Ratio

Trained Teacher :
Pupil Ratio

1:33

1: 92

36.4

Secondary schools (not available for 1975-76)
S E C O N D A R Y
Total

182

Graduates
Trained
Untrained
27

Non-Graduates
Trained Untrained

48

6

101

(1972)

%

%

Graduate

Trained

Teacher :
Pupil Ratio

41

18

n.a.

Teachers College 1977
Students

74

Staff - full-time
- part-time

5
10

Expenditure on education
Not available.
Source: 1) Educational Statistics 1975-76, unpublished documents, Ministry
of Education, Grenada.
2) Fernando, W.D.: Grenada - Perspectives for the development
programmes 1974-83, Ministry of Education 1974. 173 p.

- 104 -

Montserrat
Plant 1975
Primary schools
(government and assisted
(unaided)

14
2

Secondary
junior secondary
secondary
technical

1
1
1

3

Enrolment 1975
Primary

2,623

Secondary

486

Technical

60

Teachers

1975

Primary

107

Secondary

34

Technical

8

Teacher

• Pupil ratios

Primary

1:25

Secondary

1:14

Technical

1:8

No information available on levels of training.
Expenditure on education 197 5
EC$ 2.8 million

-

36% of total recurrent expenditure.

Sources: 1) Government of Montserrat: Fourth Statistical Digest 1976.
2) Government of Montserrat: Estimates of Review and Expenditure 1975.

- 105 -

St. Kitts-Nevis

P l a n t 1976-77
St. Kitts - Primary schools:
5-12
5-16
5-8
Nevis

age group
age group
age group

12
5
2

19

- Primary schools:
5-12 age group
5-16 age group
5-8 age group

7
2
1

St. Kitts - Secondary schools

4

Nevis

10
29

2

- Secondary schools

6

Enrolment 1976-77
St. Kit is

Nevis

Total

Primary

6,411

2,142

8,553

Secondary

3,518

1,222

4,740

Total

9,929

3,364

i 3,293

Teachers 1976-77
P R I M A R Y
Total
St. Kitts

No.
Trained

%
Trained

Teacher :
Pupil Ratice

Trained Teacher Pupil Ratios

Total

82

36.4

1:29

1.78

87

Nevis

225

50

57.4

1:25

1:43

312

132

42.3

1:27

1:65

77% of teachers in St. Kitts hold less than 5 0 levels.
71% of teachers in Nevis hold less than 5 0 levels.

- 106 -

SECONDARY

Total

Graduate 6
Specialist

181

37

55

89

30.4

20.4

1:19

64

13

29

22

45.3

20.3

1:19

245

50

84

111

34.3

20.4

1:19

St.Kitts
Nevis
Total

Non-Graduate
Trained Untrained

%
Trained

%
Graduate

Teacher :
Pupil Ratios

Teachers College - 1977
Students

75

Staff: full-time

10

part-time

2

Entry requirements - 40 levels including English Language.
Expenditure on educations
1975

EC$ 2.7 million

7.4% of total public expenditure

Sources: Education Department, St. Kitts-Nevis Educational Statistics 197677 s St. Kitts 9 1977 9 43 p.

St. Lucia
Educational objectives
i) elimination of illiteracy; a/
ii) establishment in all schools of education and practical training in
agriculture and co-operative activity as integral parts of their
curricula ;
iii) expansion of technical and vocational education;
iv) improvement in the quality of teaching;
v ) expansion of facilities in pace with demand to eliminate overcrowding
of schools;

vi) the raising of environmental standards in schools through progressive
replacement of obsolescent buildings and through policies to ensure
that new schools are designed to adopted standards in terms of space
and recreational facilities.
a/ 1970 illiteracy estimated at 22% of population over 14 years.

- 107 -

Plant
1973-74
Public Primary schools

74

76

10

Secondary
Overcrowing

1975-76

11

- 50% below standard

Physical
condition
Sec.

- 66% below standard

1:6.3, p. 11 of source 2.

Regional excess of enrolment over capactity - 1975-76
Castries
Anse LaRaye
Soufriere
Laborie
Micoud

14%
87%
7%
64%
9%

Gros Islets
Canaries
Choiseul
Vieux Fort
Dennery

4%
44%
20%
24%
21%

Enrolment
1973-74
28,341 a/

Primary schools
Secondary schools c/

1975-76
30,777 b/

3,877
307

Technical college

4,320
n.a.

a/ including post-primary, Source 1.
b/ calculated from Source 2 in which post-primary counted under secondary,
c/ all sixth from work centralized at Sixth Form College.

MuVeuient from priiudiy to secondary by common entrance examination
Participation rates

1975/1976

5-11
12-14
15-18
e

92%
92%
12%

- 108 -

Teachers 1973-74
P R I M A R Y
Total

No.
Trained

892

%
Trained

251

Teacher;
Pupil Ratio

28.1

1: 32

S E C O N D A
No.
Trained

Total

180

Graduates

n.a.

58

Trained Teacher;
Pupil Ratio
1:13

R Y

%
Graduate

.

Teacher :
Pupil Ratio.
1:21

32.2

Graduate Teacher:
Pupil Ratio
1:66

1977

Teachers College 1975-77
Students

158

124

Staff: fjll-time

n.a.

12

part-time

n.a.

5

Entry requirements - 4 0 levels including English Language or successful
completion of pre-College in-service course.

Technical Teachers College
Students

-

1975-76

31

Expenditure on education
1975-76 approximately 20% of recurrent expenditure

Sources: 1) Government of St. Lucia: Annual Statistical Digest 1975, Castries,
1976, 57 p. 2) Government of St. Lucia: St. Lucia National Plan, Development
Strategy, Castries, 1977, 56 p.

- 109 -

St.

Vincent

P l a n t 1974-75
Primary schools

60

Secondary Schools

7

Enrolment 1974-75
Primary

26,122

Secondary (estimated)
(does not include
private schools)

5,138

Teachers  1974-75
I

P R I M A R Y
Total

No.
Trained

%
Trained

1,098

209

19*

Teacher:
Pupil Ratio

Trained Teacher :
Pupil Ratio

1:24

1:125

S E C O N D A R Y
Total

161

Graduate
Trained Untrained

36

Non-Graduate
Trained Untrained

31

46

69

%
%
Teacher: Graduate
Graduate Trained Pupil
Teacher:
Pupil
Ratio
Ratio
41=6

50,9

1:32

1: 77

* (Note: In 1966, only 10% of primary teachers were trained; only 33.5% had
completed secondary education.
(Source 3)

Teachers College

(1977)

Studentes

139

Staff: full-time

7

part-time

6

Entry requirements: 4 0 levels including English Language.

- 110 -

Expenditure on éducation
1975-76 EC$5.2 million - 22% of estimated recurrent expenditure: personal
emoluments account for 94% of thar figure.

Sources: 1) 1975-76 Estimates of St. Vincent, Government Printery, 1975,
155 p. 2) Digest of Statistics 1975, No. 25, Statistics Unit of St. Vincent, 1975,
46 p. 3) U.W.I.: The Development Problem in St. Vincent, U.W.I. Development
Mission, unpublished, 1969.

- Ill

-

APPENDIX IV - JAMAICA

Flow diagram: Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary Levels

^

= Principals Discretion

0

= J. S. E.

O = C. E. E.

0 =

[ ~ - Grade 9 Achieyement Test
~

Vf. = 0 Level

[\ = Common Entrance Examination for Technical

R. S. A.

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cn

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O

APPENDIX VI - GUYANA
Flow chart of school system
r
I
1

—

University of
Guyana
THIRD

LEVEL

Post Graduate
t j D i ^ o m a in Ed.
I (? Years)

Degrees Coursei
(Five Years)

UNIVERSITIES
ABROAD

Under Graduate
Diploma Courses;
(Two Years)

EDUCATION

Teacher Ed.
Cert, in Ed.
(2 Years)

I Teacher Trainling for Primacy- Schools
I (Two Years)

GENERAL

r*

College for
Secondary
Teachers
School of
Agriculture
Two to
three Years)

bemor
Secondary
Schools
(r)

SECOND
School of
Home Economics
«-4- Junior Second-I
L aiy Schooisí1*) j
(Seven Years) j

I^EVEL

(Two Years)

EDUCATION
--Í

Secondary
Department of
Primary
Schools (2£3)
(Three Years)

A,

G.I.T.C.
(One Year)

I
L..
Primary Schools
Six Grades - Prep. A, B.
Stds. 1, 2, 3, 4.
(Six to eight years (1)

FIRST LEVt.
EDUCATION

Kindergarten
(Private)
(One
to three
years)

PRE-PRIMARY
EDUCATION

Examinations:

Technical
Institute
(1-5 Years)

1.
2.
4.
5.

^Secondary Schools Ev. trance Examination
Proj•li-r.ary Certificate
Co i ] v  - of Preceptors
. i,:
General Certificate of. Education Ordinary I,»vol
Geno-ai ~ert:ticate of
í™. a r - - n r 
irir-1

- 117 -

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ALLEYNE, Michael H. Educational Planning in Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean
Studies, Vol. II, n° 4, 1972.
ANTIGUA, Government of.
Antigua, 1975.

Antigua Estimates 1975, Government Printing Office,

ANTIGUA, Government of. Policy Statement on Long Term Educational Programme.
Antigua, Government Printing Office, 1967.
ANTIGUA, Government of. Educational Statistics 1975-1976. Ministry of Education,
Health and Culture, 1976, 36 p. mimeo.
ANTIGUA, Government of.

Statistical Yearbook 1976, Ministry of Finance, 96 p.

ANTIGUA, Government of. Annual Report of the Labour Department - 1974: Government
Printing Office, 1976, 85 p.
ANTIGUA, Government of. Report on the Education Division 1971-1972, Government
Printing Office, 1973, 35 p.
ANTIGUA, Government of. Report on the Education Division 1971-1973, Government
Printing Office, 1974, 23 p.
ANTIGUA, Government of. Report of the Education Division 1974-1975, Government
Printing Office, 1976, 47 p.
ANTIGUA, Government of.
Office, 1974, 21 p.

The Education Act 1973, N° 7 of 1973, Government Printing

ANTIGUA, Government of.
1975, 12 p.

Budget Speech 1975, Government Printing Office, Antigua,

ANTIGUA, Government of.
47 p.

Budget Speech 1976, Government Printing Office, 1976,

ANTIGUA, Government of. Curriculum for the primary schools in Antigua and Barbuda
(undated but possibly 1968).
BACCHUS, M.K. Social Factors in Secondary School selections in British Guiana.
Social and Economic Studies, Vol 15, n° 1, 1966.
BACCHUS, M.K. Social Factors in Secondary School selections in British Guiana.
Social and Economic Studies, Vol. 15, March 1966, pp 40-52.
BACCHUS, M.K. The development of educational planning with special reference to
the West Indies. Part I Teacher Education, Vol. 7, n° 3, Feb. 1967, p. 221231. Part. II Teacher Education, Vol. 8, n° 1, May 1967, p. 36-62.
BACCHUS, M.K. Education and socio-cultural integration in a plural society.
Occasional paper series, n° 6; Centre for developing area studies, McGill
University, Montreal, 1970, 42 p.
BACCHUS, M.K. A quantitative assessment of the levels of education required in
Guyana by 1975. Social and Economic Studies, Vol 17, n° 2, 1968.
BACCHUS, M.K. Patterns of educational expenditure in an emergent nation: A
study of Guyana 1945-1965, Social and Economic Studies, Vol 18, n° 3, 1968.
BACCHUS, M.K.

Education and Decolonization, Mimeo 35 p. Undated.

BARBADOS, Government of.

Development Plan 1973-1977 undated, various pagination.

BARBADOS, Government of.

Barbados Community College Calendar 1969, Government

- 121 -

P r i n t i n g O f f i c e , 1969, 35 p.
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- o /n /He o u v CL-JIIUCIIL l. r irX l i L t ii i  y ± i3 A n r. -LO r p—
i
r
1
£ u u v . q t . j . m i J . U / ^ / / ~J .

/a
.
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Project on Development and Education in
Latin America and the Caribbean

List of publications
Educación e industrialización en la
Argentina.
DEALC/1.
Educación y desarrollo en Costa Rica.
DEALC/2.
Financiamiento de la educación en
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Argentina.
DEALC/3.
Expansión educacional y estratificación
social en América Latina (1960-1970).
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Modelos educativos en el desarrollo
histórico de América Latina. DEALC/5.
Educación, imágenes y estilos de
desarrollo.
DEALC/6.
Educación y desarrollo en el Paraguay.
La enseñanza básica.
DEALC/7.
Seminario Desarrollo y educación en
América Latina y el Caribe.
Informe
final. DEALC/8.
Industria y educación en El Salvador.
DEALC/9.
Educación, lengua y marginalidad rural
en el Perú.
DEALC/10.
Educación para el desarrollo rural en
América Latina.
DEALC/11.
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La escuela en áreas rurales modernas.
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price of each publication:
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Bibliografía sobre educación y
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DEALC/13.

Publications will be sent upon
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Bibliografía. Universidad y desarrollo
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</dublin_core>
