Earlier this month, the World Bank issued a damning assessment of Caribbean education, which threatens the future of the region. In this article, we highlight some observations that have contributed to the crisis that has been reported. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Education has played a transformative role in Caribbean society, as it has lifted recent generations out of poverty by opening up a broader range of career opportunities, thus improving their standard of living and overall life prospects. However, although countries still emphasise the importance of education, the World Bank recently released a scathing assessment of the Caribbean education system, which is characterised as being \u2018in crisis<\/em>\u2019 (Source:\u00a0 Barbados Today<\/a>). At the heart of its findings were outdated teaching methods, inadequate infrastructure, and unequal access as factors hindering student success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although it might be more anecdotal than fact, there has been a sense that although the Caribbean education system and curriculum might not be as advanced as other countries, the Caribbean student can hold their own anywhere. They tend to excel when attending colleges and universities outside the region, having benefitted from the rigour and inadequacies of the Caribbean classroom. However, that success may be a more likely outcome for students who were able to successfully matriculate through the Caribbean education system and take advantage of what limited opportunities were offered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A huge challenge that the World Bank\u2019s assessment cited was the wide disparity in the quality of the primary and secondary schools in Caribbean countries and the inadequate provisions that have been made to mitigate the impact of adverse weather conditions and other exigencies on school continuity. The failure was grimly highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic when schools had to remain closed, which ministries of education, school administrators and teachers unprepared to engage in remote or digital education. After several weeks and much fumbling, some systems were established, but students, especially those from low-income households that did not readily have internet access or enough internet-suitable devices, were at a considerable disadvantage. The impact of inconsistent access to education for 12 to 18 months, when most school closures were in effect, will be long-term and far-reaching. Students who were left behind have been unable to catch up, as little or no remediation arrangements were (or have been) made to narrow that gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We also have to consider the more favourable future students are likely to have if they can attend a \u2018good school\u2019. \u2018Good schools\u2019 tend to have access to more and better-quality resources than other schools, which often is reflected in student performance and examination results. Further, the World Bank\u2019s findings indicate that countries are not investing enough in primary and secondary education, which may be exacerbating the conditions in schools, especially those located in more challenging communities and with weak fundraising capacity, where school administrators are trying to stretch as best as they with the limited resources provided. Ultimately, students attending not-so-good schools are at a severe disadvantage from the start, from which they are unlikely to escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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It is also interesting to highlight the importance placed on the results of the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) examinations, especially those for the June Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) sitting. The results are big news when they are released in August, as schools and countries measure themselves against each other: which school(s) had the best-performing students or the most passes, etc. In other words, the CXC results have become a point of pride and a marker of the prestige for the schools that have consistently done well. However, it has also resulted in some schools putting the optics of their results ahead of students\u2019 education prowess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, some schools do not allow students who failed subjects to repeat the examination either in the January CXC sitting, as they have made no provision to participate at that time. Furthermore, they may not allow students, especially if they are considered external students, to join the June examination sitting for fear that they could damage the school\u2019s performance during that sitting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although it could be argued that no school would want a student to fail an examination, we also have the situation where schools are barring students from being tested for subjects they have been studying for fear they will fail the examination. However, it also means that some students leave secondary schools with official results in a few ad hoc subjects, which are not representative of all that they have studied, regardless of the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Without a doubt, the current and emerging situation is worrying for employers, as they have been expressing concern about how ill-prepared high school and university graduates are for the workplace. In the Caribbean tech space, the situation is especially acute, as new and more sophisticated technologies are being used in our local markets, but skilled personnel in those technologies and the attendant services are too few to non-existent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Further, although it is still early days, we have to consider the impact of AI on education, skills development, and the workplace. With students now using Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, Llama and Bard to do their homework, write reports and otherwise execute some of the tasks they were required to do to ensure comprehension and learning, the traditional forms of teaching and assessment urgently need to evolve. It can no longer be assumed that students are doing their assignments without AI assistance or intervention, and so little assurance that they are learning the concepts that were required to learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having said this, in the emerging workplace, individuals may no longer need to know specific concepts or principles by heart, as they can be quickly researched online. It is more important to be able to skillfully apply those principles, to know how to troubleshoot a situation should a problem arise, and the likely blind spots or biases of the digital tools used, and consequently, the degree of reliance that can be placed on those tools. In other words, the knowledge and expertise required are far beyond the learning concepts by heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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In summary, the World Bank\u2019s assessment of Caribbean education should have emphasised much of what we already know. The issues discussed in this article are just the tip of the iceberg. Much more can be said about these areas and many others. However, in being \u2018publicly shamed\u2019, it remains to see what individual Caribbean countries and the region as a whole intend to do to manage this crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Image credit: jcomp (Freepik<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n