Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper - UNDP Barbados and the OECS ...

2.1.3. Trends in Poverty – Education, Labour and Agricultural Participation
Education:
There is an inverse relationship between poverty and level of education attained.
There are four (4) formal levels of education offered in SVG by both the public and
private sectors to the age range 3-18 years: Pre primary, primary, secondary and
tertiary.
Pre primary education is primarily a private sector led activity with some government
assistance in the form of teacher training and provision and a subvention. Over the
years, less than 25 percent of the age group 2.5 – 3.5 years has accessed education at
this level. The Ministry of Education confirms that there is a strong correlation
between access to pre-primary education and performance at the primary level. Data
from the Common Entrance examination over the period 1991-2000 show that just
about one third of those who write this examination gain access to any of the 21
secondary schools in the state. Given the number of children who succeed at this
examination, tracer studies are urgently required to verify the correlation indicated by
the Ministry and to address the situation.
Table 3: Common Entrance Passes 1991 - 2000
Total
candidates
Successful
candidates
Final SVG I-PRSP Revision June 2003
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
2,507 2,572 2,602 2,498 2,987 2,798 2,808 2,699 2,660 2,558
901
993
922
912
1,256
1,066
% pass
36 37 35 37 42 38
SOURCE: Statistics Department, Ministry of Finance and Planning
The common entrance and school leaving examinations provide the main access
routes to secondary education and more girls than boys gain entry, though they are
evenly represented at the primary level.
Table 3 shows the number and sex of those accessing secondary education; while the
number has been slowly increasing over the years a large percentage of the student
population does not attain secondary education.
Table 4: Number of Secondary School Children enrolled by sex and Year 1991 -2000
1,109
39
1,202
45
1,253
Sex 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Male 2,765 2,956 2,917 2,985 3,061 3,060 3,139 3,181 3,300 3,379
Female 4,178 4,218 4,366 4,479 4,584 4,579 4,551 4,594 4,698 4,560
Total 6,942 7,174 7,283 7,464 7,645 7,639 7,690 7,775 7,098 7,939
SOURCE: Statistics Department, Ministry of Finance and Planning.
47
789
31
15