Secondary Education in St. Vincent and the Grenadines is provided by 26 institutions, 19 of which are public. The remaining seven schools are owned by churches but operate with substantial financial assistance from the Government. These seven schools are referred to as Assisted Secondary (AS) schools. Of the twenty-six (26) secondary schools, twenty-three (23) are situated on Mainland of St. Vincent and three (3) are in the Grenadines – two on Bequia in the Northern Grenadines and one on Union Island in the Southern Grenadines. Twenty two secondary schools are co-educational. There are two single-sex, all-male, secondary schools and two single-sex, all-female, secondary schools.
In 2015 students sat the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA) administered by the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC). The CPEA replaces the national Common Entrance Examination (CEE) which previously determined which students obtained the chance to attend the secondary school of their choice. However, all students in accordance with the policy of the Ministry of Education will be offered a place at a secondary school. The criteria for secondary school selections will remain as established by the Ministry of Education. In 2014, primary pupils performed quite commendably on the new assessment with an overall pass rate of 78.08%. There was a subsequent improvement in 2015 to 80.90% and again in 2016 to 83.87%.