CARICOM urged to address education crisis amid World Bank assessment

As CARICOM leaders prepare to meet here for their half-term summit, a parent advocates group has demanded immediate action in the wake of the World Bank’s damning assessment of a regional education system in “crisis”.  

The report, unveiled during a virtual webinar with regional education officials, sparked calls for reform. Paula-Ann Moore, spokesperson and coordinator of the Group of Concerned Parents of Barbados, emphasised the urgency of addressing the deficiencies highlighted by the international group.  

“For an institution steeped in diplomacy to be so blunt with that terminology is very telling,” Moore said. “The World Bank experts reiterated some of the key issues that many of us education stakeholders have been sounding the alarm for quite some time. They basically reiterated that certain foundational deficiencies left inadequately addressed will further lead to poor suboptimal education outcomes in the Caribbean.”  

Moore pointed to critical shortcomings in primary education across the region, warning that failure to address these issues would perpetuate poor academic performance. 

She also highlighted troubling trends in regional exam results, specifically referencing a 36 per cent pass rate for the Caribbean  Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams in 2024.  

“This low pass rate is not an isolated incident,” she said, noting that a review of the past decade shows only slight declines due to the impact of COVID-19.  

Beyond academic performance, Moore raised concerns about gender disparities in education. According to the World Bank, boys in the Caribbean are underperforming compared to girls—a reversal of global trends where boys typically perform better. She linked this underachievement to broader societal issues, including violence.  

“We know all of the recent public discussion on school violence and national violence and the link of poor education outcomes for boys and how that manifests in violent crime,” Moore said. “This is a troubling statistic.”  

The increasing reliance on private tuition was also criticised as a symptom of systemic failure. “It really is an indictment of our entire system if you need private tuition to maximise education performance,” Moore said. “We need to ask ourselves what are we doing wrong and what must we change radically to improve or to mitigate against needing private lessons.”  

Moore further called for greater parental and student involvement in shaping education policy, warning that reforms would falter without their support. “We parents really need to be engaged better at the strategic level,” she said.  

She also reminded regional leaders of Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s pledge last year to prioritise education at this week’s CARICOM summit which opens Wednesday at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre. Moore expressed hope that leaders would honour this commitment, given what she described as dire educational outcomes across the region.  

“Our children are our future,” Moore said. “We also obviously have to demonstrate, as has been done in the past, that CARICOM is not just talking the talk, but walking the walk, putting all the resources and attention needed to ensure that our children reach their fullest potential.” (LG)

Clarification:

The World Bank’s findings on Caribbean education were derived from various data sources, not from a single, focused report.