The following tables report on repeaters and dropouts across OECS education systems. Data on class sizes, pupil/teacher ratios, schools managed by school boards and schools operating with development and disaster management plans are also presented.
Comparison of repetition rates across countries should be done with caution; some countries have explicit repetition policies which limits student repetition and as much as possible keep the age cohort together. This is not the case in other countries.
All countries reported higher numbers of repeaters among males than females at both the primary and secondary levels during the 2013-14 school year. The only two exceptions were in St Kitts and Nevis where more females repeated at secondary school than males, while Montserrat reported zero repeaters for both males and females at the secondary level. The number of repeaters at the Kindergarten level tends to be drastically higher than at Grades One through Six. Except for Grenada and Montserrat, all countries, reported the highest number of repeaters at the Kindergarten level. The data indicates that the next highest number of repeaters seem to occur in Grades One, Five and Six. With the exception of St. Lucia and Montserrat, all countries reported much higher numbers of repeaters at the secondary level in comparison to the primary level. There were also more male repeaters than female repeaters in Forms 1, 2 and 3 (except for St. Kitts and Nevis). This trend may be as a result of the high number of male dropouts.
The number of repeaters at the Kindergarten level tends to be drastically higher than at Grades One through Six
4.2 Trends in Primary School Repeaters
All reporting countries had greater rates of male than female repeaters for every period between 2008-09 and 2012-13 as follows: Antigua and Barbuda (7.0 % in 2008-09); Dominica (6.9 % in 2009-10); Grenada (3.1% in 2012-13); St. Kitts and Nevis (2.3% in 2009-10); St. Lucia (2.7 % in 2011-12); and St. Vincent and the Grenadines (5.1 % in 2010-11).
4.3 Trends in Secondary School Repeaters