00:00According to the Ministry of Education of eight education districts, the Northeastern, Port of Spain and Environs and Southeastern districts have consistently recorded higher percentages of low performance at examinations such as SEA, CSEC and CAPE from 2020 to 2025.
00:18Director of Curriculum Planning Anna Singh says there are other determining factors outside of the actual school system which contribute to this.
00:27These districts largely have populations of either rural schools or high risk, so to speak, schools, marginalized areas.
00:40Singh says factors such as the socioeconomic situation of parents and the community setup are also impacting the performance of students.
00:48The JSEC expresses concern that the average annual decrease of students scoring 30% or less is a meager 0.006%.
00:57Singh states that while there has been interventions such as screening, social support and parental engagement, problems persist.
01:06She admits that the level of improvement is small in some schools, but she says it has been consistent.
01:12As for the gravity of the overall situation...
01:15There were three numbers, three figures that I saw that jumped out at me.
01:22One is 11.65%, which would be students scoring below 30% at SEA.
01:2929.35% are students, these are national figures obviously, at CSEC who get 4 to 6 or ungraded.
01:42And then 17.68%, which is the national figure for no passes.
01:48In terms of the SEA students, the ministry admits that they are more likely to be placed in low-performance secondary schools.
01:56And those are also linked to schools where there are higher behavioral issues and learning disabilities.
02:02The ministry says that it is now able to track these students from primary school to the end of secondary school.
02:08And although a student, based on their performance, is anticipated to score below the pass mark for SEA,
02:15sitting the exam remains the only option for transitioning into secondary school.
02:20Chief Education Officer Dr. Peter Smith says reducing the size of these classes,
02:25which presently stands at 30 students per class, is also not an option at this time.
02:31Unless we perhaps build additional schools, it is a challenge to actually reduce the class size.
02:40So reducing class size would involve more classrooms.
02:44The Student Support Services Division is a critical element in providing support, especially to high-priority schools.
02:50From September 2024 to July 2025, the SSSD received 5,429 referrals for assessment at the primary school level.
03:02But SSSD manager Dr. Ayinka Nurse-Carrington says the division is seriously understaffed,
03:08including in the area of psychologists who are needed for tailored intervention to be implemented.
03:13SSSD, they operate only on a district basis.
03:17So we can have one psychologist for the district, one type of psychologist, or even two.
03:28Sometimes you stretch.
03:30Dr. Nurse-Carrington outlines that the American Psychological Association standard is 1 to 250 students.
03:37My officers at district can have over 100 schools.
03:42So that is what we are working with.
03:44The Ministry of Public Administration has been engaged for a review of the Education Ministry's organizational structure,
03:52which will include the SSSD.
03:54It is said that while around 700 positions exist in the SSSD,
03:58there are around 300,000 students, which in itself is a challenge.
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