CHAPTER 3: ENROLMENT
The data in this section depicts pupil enrolment in the respective Member States at the various levels of education. These levels are Early Childhood Education, Primary, Special Education, Secondary, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Post Secondary / Tertiary Education. At each level the data is disaggregated by sex and the type of institution, whether it public or, government assisted / private. The Age-Distribution tables seek to reflect the total number of pupils by sex, grade/ form and level for each participating Member State.
The layout of this chapter provides information starting with public enrolment followed by the government assisted/private and then the total enrolment for the specified level. The information starts with the first cycle of Early Childhood Education, then proceeds to , Primary, Special Education, Secondary, TVET and then Post Secondary enrolment for each of the eight participating Member States. Summary data is subsequently presented for the OECS sub region. In both the Primary and Secondary cycles, pupil enrolment is further disaggregated into “under-aged”,” class-aged” and “over-aged” enrolment. Under-aged pupils are those who are below the specified age for the given class. Hence, a child who is not yet 5 and in kindergarten, is underaged. Likewise, a 5-year-old in kindergarten would be deem as being “class-aged whereas a 6-year-old in Kindergarten is said to be over-aged within the primary cycle. At the secondary level, pupils are expected to enter by age 12. Consequently, a pupil who is under 12 in Form1, is classified as under-aged, while a 12-year-old is class-aged and a 13-year-old would be stated as over-aged.
Within the OECS sub region, pupil enrolment declined over the last 6 years throughout the various levels. Early Childhood enrolment has fluctuated over the same period as seen in figure 3.1. In reviewing the enrolment trends, it should be understood that the figures provided by Member States are guided by the number of institutions who respond to the Annual School Survey which influences the overall trend. Also, the number of Member States which share their enrolment figures changes annually, which also impacts the data. Another consideration is the effect of changes in the national birth rates across the Member States and also the extent of migration out of the OECS sub region. Further research possibly through partnerships with the Ministries of Health, Immigration Offices and the National Statistical Offices to obtain a better understanding of the trends being shown over the years. A collaborative effort is needed to gain a better appreciation of the factors at play within this sector.