Senator Alex Brown says Antigua and Barbuda faces a serious challenge in mathematics education and is urging the government to move beyond spending levels and focus on targeted solutions to improve student performance.
Speaking during the 2026 Budget Debate in the Upper House, Brown said the country continues to lag behind regional averages in mathematics, despite education receiving a significant share of government funding.
“There’s obviously a problem with maths, and we need to find a solution,” Brown told senators. “I don’t have the antidote solution, but there has to be a focus.”
Brown said data from Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) results over several years show Antigua and Barbuda performing below regional benchmarks. He noted that while the Caribbean average hovers around the 40 percent range, local results remain significantly lower.
“I said within the Caribbean we were in the 20s and the average was in the 40s,” he said, responding to a point of order during the debate.
While acknowledging that the Ministry of Education receives substantial budgetary allocations, Brown said funding alone is not enough if outcomes do not improve. He called for targeted interventions, including support for teachers and reforms aimed specifically at mathematics instruction.
“The ministry would have gotten a huge chunk of the budget,” Brown said. “So I’m saying that some effort should be made — whether it’s our teachers, maths teachers, whether they need training or whatever it is — but just have a focus.”
Brown stressed that mathematics and English remain critical subjects for students seeking higher education opportunities.
“Maths and English are the two subjects that are very much needed for university matriculation,” he said. “So we need to focus and make sure that where maths is concerned, we do much better.”
He said the issue should be addressed as a national priority, noting that education outcomes directly affect students’ future prospects and the country’s long-term development.
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It started with the UPP. RAG-TAG lowered the pass mark. Cooks Pond Water can’t call figures “WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING? I’M GIVING YOU THE FIGURES”
“zero, zero, zero, zero….”
All that money that went to education in the budget is for one main purpose. PM Browne’s university at Five Islands.
He does not care about the state of the schools nor the poor performance of students in maths. He just wants to get money to expand the FIC so he can show off to the other PMs he meets when he attends conferences.
To help the students with math problems, the government should employ, and I mean employ, hire, a lot of retired math teachers to help fix the problem which goes way back to grade school. They should be paid very well, not with gift certificates, but with good hard cash. Even some of the present math teachers should attend those classes.
All of us can hope that the day will come when this government comes to realize that funding education does not start with fancy buildings and university degrees.
But that would be asking for too much from them.
A…The WARRI – OWARE is one of the oldest [coding]game known to HUEmans from the Mancala family of games which encompasses the Five W’s used by critical thinkers to solve problems, either by TRIAL & ERROR or the SCIENTIFIC/PROVEN METHODS.
While the OWARE/WARRI game is not considered an ABACUS (a mathematical tool used in calculations) it’s still very useful in developing and determining cognition.
B…the separation of the Arts & Sciences is another factor which hinders, stagnates one’s ability to be great at Mathematics.
Everything single thing which we as HUEmans come in contact with is MATHEMATICAL. The Arts & Sciences are one and the same. For example, if a child thought process is molded from an early age in ways which keep both the arts and sciences together, many will not have problems with either one.
Language is a science derived, through sound.
Examples…
A is two isosceles triangles!
B is a straight line connecting two parabolas!
C is a curve
D is one parabola and a straight line
E can be two squares or parallelograms.
All the way to X which is four squares created by to straight lines intersecting at a point where there forces are equal to ZERO as they intersect.
What I’m saying all letters are represented by some form of science.
Now, while children at an early age will not be able to grasp such concepts, immediately; the habits which they develop at this early stage of life will become NORMS, and NORMS become A WAY OF LIFE.
Stop separating the Arts & Sciences from birth. and watch the children grow into becoming cognitive thinkers.
Jumbee Picknee aka Ras Smood
De’ole Dutty Peg 🦶🏾 Garrat_Bastard
Vere Edwards
I see he now spreads Richard Lewis lies. The average for the region in terms of maths passes is 39. Low math scores are a global problem. The 2025 pass rate for Antigua was 31.5 percent. Solution(s)More training in math’s particularly after school needs to be made available in a targeted manner. Math is one of those subjects that practice is important
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