Empty classroom with no students

Enrico Woolford

Inequality in access to quality education is a challenge in Guyana. Lilia Burunciuc, the World Bank’s Director for the Caribbean in an opinion piece titled Caribbean’s Education System: What do declining pass rates reveal? Highlighted several areas of concern –  the lack of data that can be compared globally; a foundational learning crisis; and inequality in access to quality education.

Lilia Burunciuc

In the piece which was released ahead of International Education Day to be observed on Friday the World Bank Director said, 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 has forced secondary students to be accommodated in primary schools – referred to as primary top department, which significantly hinders the learning experience, she said.

Further, she said this inequality perpetuates cycles of poverty and limits social mobility. Those who attend elite schools are more likely to perform well in national examinations, gain access to tertiary education, and secure well-paying jobs. In contrast, the majority struggle to pass exams, limiting their opportunities for advancement.

With support from the bank, she explained that Guyana has three new secondary schools which are equipped with state of art technology, adding that the recently completed Good Hope and Westminster Secondary Schools have added 1,800 new spaces for students, ensuring better access to quality education.

Last year’s Caribbean Examination Council results she said a concerning picture emerged as only 4.9% of the approximately 200,000 students who wrote the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate Exams passed five or more subjects including Mathematics and English. She added what was alarming is the low success rates in Mathematics, with just 36% of students passing the subject last year.

Burunciuc, said one of the major 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, she said.

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.

The data she said points to a larger problem of their being 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 lack of 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.

Burunciuc said governments in the Caribbean region are prioritizing education; implementing reforms to improve access, enhance teaching quality, and upgrade school infrastructure.

However, she said achieving better outcomes will require a paradigm shift in Caribbean Education systems which includes enhanced alignment with the global agenda for transforming education.