Message from the Chief Education Officer - Ms. Beverly Neptune
The production of the 2016-2017 Education Statistical Digest provides another opportunity for internal and external stakeholders to set goals and objectives in the 2017-2018 academic year. The Ministry of Education, National Reconciliation and Ecclesiastical Affairs strives through this production to be accountable, transparent and responsive in the continual development of education system within St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
In total, our institutions include one hundred and twenty nine (129) early childhood centres, sixty eight (68) primary schools, twenty seven (27) secondary schools and one community college comprising four (4) divisions. For the 2016-2017 academic year there were 3,564 early childhood pupils, 13,026 primary, 10,113 secondary and 2,109 post-secondary students. Our teaching core included 454 care givers, 905 primary and 704 secondary teachers.
In this document we provide the data on the returns on investments made in the education sector. We base this on our school’s performance and in particular, the progress of the students and also teachers’ professional development. Hence, we must ensure that our data collection remains timely and accurate in order to enable efficient prioritization of our goals, and prudent use of our resources through efficient monitoring. It is my hope that through the publication of this Education Statistical Digest, we will be better able to share our on-going successes, as well as our challenges in a timely manner with our partners.