
When students across the Caribbean received their Caribbean Examinations Council results last summer, a concerning picture emerged: only 4.9 percent of students—close to 200,000 students for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exams—passed five or more subjects, including Mathematics and English.
Particularly alarming is the low success rate in Mathematics, with just 36 percent of students passing that subject in 2024.
Parents and educators are expressing frustration over low pass rates: “The cumulative effects of years of poor educational outcomes are deeply concerning, especially given the well-established links between education and negative societal impacts such as crime,” said Paula-Anne Moore, spokesperson for the Group of Concerned Parents in Barbados and the Caribbean Coalition for Exam Redress, as reported by Barbados Today.
This raises important questions about the root causes of the educational challenges in the Caribbean and what steps can be taken to address them.
Data Concerns: A Lack of Comparability
One of the biggest challenges in understanding the quality of education in the Caribbean is the lack of globally comparable data. Unlike other regions, the Caribbean does not consistently participate in international benchmarking assessments, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
High-stakes regional exams implemented by the Caribbean Examinations Council, provide some insights into learning outcomes but not all students take these exams and some students prepare for them outside of school, given the exams’ importance for students’ education trajectories.
As such, these assessments do not provide globally comparable snapshots of education system performance, as PISA and similar assessments do.

When the region engages in benchmarking exercises, the results highlight significant gaps. In the 2015 PISA assessment, out of 79 countries, Trinidad and Tobago ranked 53rd in reading, 59th in Math, and 52nd in Science. Jamaica ranked 61st in reading, 62nd in Math, and 59th in Science in 2022. These rankings are around the average for Latin American countries; however, Latin America’s top performers lag 3 to 5 years behind the OECD average, with students in the Caribbean much further behind.
A Foundational Learning Crisis
The data point to a larger, systemic problem: a crisis in foundational learning in the Caribbean. Foundational learning involves basic literacy, numeracy, and transferable skills, which are the building blocks for a life of learning. In many Caribbean countries, students leave primary school without mastering these skills, which hampers their ability to succeed in secondary education and beyond.
The implications of this crisis are far-reaching. Without a strong foundation in basic skills, students are unable to acquire higher-order competencies required for more complex critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity—skills that are essential in today’s knowledge-based economy.
This has a direct impact on economic growth and development, as a poorly educated workforce is less productive, less innovative, and less able to compete in a globalized world.
Inequality in Access to Quality Education
Adding to the challenge is the persistent issue of inequality in access to quality education. Many students attend schools that are under-resourced and face challenges such as overcrowding, underqualified or demotivated teachers, and often, significant levels of violence.
In Guyana, the shortage of available spaces forced secondary students to be accommodated in primary schools—referred to as primary top departments—significantly hindering the learning experience.
This inequality perpetuates cycles of poverty and limits social mobility. Those who attend elite schools are more likely to perform well in national exams, gain access to tertiary education, and secure well-paying jobs. In contrast, the majority struggle to pass exams, limiting their opportunities for advancement.
What Needs to Be Done?
Governments across the Caribbean are already prioritizing education; implementing reforms to improve access, enhance teaching quality, and upgrade school infrastructure.
However, achieving better outcomes will require a paradigm shift in Caribbean education systems, including enhanced alignment with the global agenda for transforming education.
Efforts should be directed toward addressing inequality and ensuring a minimum level of quality for all students; a stronger emphasis on foundational learning; increasing resilience and adaptability of education systems; strengthening digital education, including improving data collection and education management information systems and finding solutions to retain talent within the region.
Partnerships are also critical, and regional entities such as the Caribbean Community and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States Commission have a strong role to play.
The World Bank is actively supporting these efforts, including by gathering evidence for building consensus on the strengths and challenges of Caribbean education systems and by providing evidence-based recommendations for reform.
For example, Education Public Expenditure Reviews completed in Jamaica and Belize and ongoing in Barbados, provide a comprehensive analysis of the efficiency and equity of education spending, benchmarking the country’s performance against regional and global standards.
The Public Expenditure Review in Jamaica laid the analytical groundwork for the Jamaica Education Project.
The project, launched in 2023 is helping Jamaica improve teaching methods, upgrade secondary school facilities—including the construction of a new school to accommodate 2,400 students from underserved communities—and enhance education management information systems for better decision-making.
In Guyana, the World Bank is supporting the expansion of access to quality secondary education and enhancing technical and vocational training to meet labor market needs. With the Bank’s support, Guyana now has three new secondary schools equipped with state-of-the-art technology.
The recently completed Good Hope and Westminster Secondary Schools have added 1,800 new spaces for students, ensuring better access to quality education.
Caribbean countries can make significant strides in improving the quality of education, ensuring Caribbean children have the future they deserve – one filled with opportunities and bright prospects.
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This all sounds true – poor primary backgrounds in fundamental skills can cause poor secondary performance, and poor secondary backgrounds in fundamental skills in relevant subjects can lead to poor tertiary performance and so forth. It’s good that countries are working hard to improve educational infrastructure with new schools etc. I am wondering – are there any comprehensive studies to pinpoint precisely where deficiencies lie. E.g. perhaps ask the teachers at the next level, what they observe students to be struggling with that they should already know, compile a list of the teachers’ observations, then study each of these at the lower level. E.g. if the teachers cite reading comprehension, writing skills, research skills or certain math skills as a problem then take a look at what occurs in the lower level in the teaching of those specific things. Apart from polling the educators at the higher level, perhaps incoming students could take a standardized test to check their abilities at fundamental tasks, then they can be given some immediate remedial help to improve in those areas. Also, perhaps the teachers could be directly asked for a list of infrastructure and equipment requests that they deem necessary for their classes to run effectively. Sometimes the new infrastructure and equipment might not align with solving the actual problems that exist if they are put in place without adequate consultation.
If our Caribbean politicians stop thinking about self enrichment and get rid of the greedy mentality we will do better. In Antigua several blocks of civil servants are ripping of this country, following in the steps of politicians. If you look at the civil servants there is great disparity between their salaries and standards of living.
Now look at the standard of living of the custom officers vs teaches. The customs officers live a high standard as high if not higher than the government ministers , PS’s and other top government officials. Yet the government turns a blind eye on this blatant abuse or self entitlement. The Director of PWD and several of his engineers and those that are involved in government materials, equipment, contracts, resources are almost the same like the custom officers.
Within the government system the teachers, the education officials are the most educated, qualified block of government employees. Yet they are the workers that are worst of financial. I will put the nurses in the same bracket as the teachers. Both group of workers are struggling financially to survive in this country. They don’t have good housing and transportation generally. It hurts to see the high percentage of teachers and nurses walking to work , struggling to get to and from work. The standards of living of our teachers says how we treat education. Teachers are begging ride to work, catching bus and walking from west bus station to grammar school , PM schools and walking from west bus station to east bus station to catch another bus. These days lots of teachers are depending on school meals for lunch. Not a matter of choice but because of their financial circumstances.
Where as the custom officers , the immigration officers, the PWD officials, the treasury workers are collecting money – wash hand money from people and businesses. Yes there are cases in court where a custom officer is charged. However if a proper final investigation is done. A forensic audit/ investigation is done on each custom officer and how they come about by such wealth , based on their salaries. Plenty of them and others will end up in 1735 .
In the other hand our Teachers give to our children. It Is normal practice for a teacher to buy a shoe for a child. Provide supplies and even pay for the CXC exams for children out of their pockets . Same thing a nurse would go out of their way to buy or fulfill a need of a patient that don’t have – clothes , adult pampers etc .
Time to really change this culture of greed and corruption in public office. Time to look about our education system and improve the standard of living for those that work hard and honestly.
Government needs to take a long, hard look at some of the nation’s top private schools, especially the secondary schools. Many of their teachers are leaving and going to the public school system. It has been reported that there is a mass exodus from one particular school and students who are writing exams are yet to get teachers for certain subjects.
We the parents pay a lot of money in school fees to these schools. Is it that they are not paying their teachers properly why they are leaving, or is it that they are hiring low level staff that cannot handle the requirements for the exams?
It is reported that one principal had to send out a notice to the staff that they were not to conduct private lessons on the compound. It appears that the after school lessons are where the teaching is done.
Something has to be done to address this troubling situation in our education system.
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