Message from the Permanent Secretary - Mr. Myccle Burke
The Education system globally was catapulted into a state of chaos due to an unannounced and unwanted pandemic. The situation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines was further exacerbated by multiple hazards that challenged the mode and method of education delivery. A cursory and intimate analysis of student performance during this unprecedented period of challenge has revealed certain deficits in our education system.
The Ministry of Education and National Reconciliation has committed to the purposeful use of limited resources on a recovery of learning quest. During the period of heightened challenges, instructional time was loss and the quality of the learning experience diminished, despite numerous attempts at creative responses.
The data provided for the period of assessment demonstrates a widening of the divide that is reflective of the disparity in resources available to learners across the education system. Policy interventions aimed at promoting equity must be fiercely advocated as a resolution during this period of transition to a state of relative normalcy. Global approaches that are driven by the mantra of “Education Transformation” must resonate with local stakeholders to achieve meaningful results.
Data gathering and sharing should be at the forefront of policy responses and the Ministry of Education through the office of the Education Planner must continue to produce quality information that will guide decisions making. Proper problem identification and planning lends itself to more effective interventions and implementation. Quality data must therefore form the basis for any creative response.
An analysis of the data produced during the review period demonstrates an increase in the rate of attrition and repetition. Attrition and repetition are particularly prevalent among males at the secondary level and more typical of certain education institutions.
The Ministry of Education in its attempt to transform the education system will focus on the annually generated quantitative and qualitative research being cognizant of the important role od data in decision making.
“Without data you’re just another person with an opinion.”
Edwards Deming, Statistician
“The ability to take data – to be able to understand it, to process it, to extract value from it, to visualise it, to communicate it – is going to be a hugely important skill in the next decades.”
Hal Varian, Chief Economist, Google.
“Torture the data and it will confess to anything.”
Ronald Coase, Economist