Education in Grenada

Joined Commonwealth: 1974

Population: 104,000 (2009)

GDP p.c. growth: 3.1% p.a. 1990-2009

Net primary enrolment: 98.5% (2008)

Net secondary enrolment: 85.4% (2008)

Gross tertiary enrolment: 53.5% (2009)

There are 12 years of compulsory education starting at age five. The net enrolment ratio is 98.5% for primary and 85.4% for secondary (2008). Gross enrolment ratio for all levels of education combined was 91.8% in 2009 with a primary female-male ratio of 0.94:1 and a secondary female-male ratio of 1.01:1 (2009). The pupil-teacher ratio for primary is 17:1 and for secondary 18:1 (2009). The school year starts in September.

Tertiary education facilities include the TA Marryshow Community College, a branch of the extra-mural department of the regional University of the West Indies and St George’s University, an offshore American university specialising in medicine. The University of the West Indies has its main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. Other post-secondary institutions include the Grenada National College, the Technical and Vocational Institute, the Teacher Training College and the Institute for Further Education.

The Caribbean Examinations Council, established in 1972 by an agreement among 15 English-speaking Commonwealth Caribbean countries and territories, provides examinations and certification at secondary and post-secondary levels. The Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examination is for students at the end of the secondary education cycle; the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations for post-secondary students entering the world of work and for those candidates who wish to continue their further education at the tertiary level.

The government’s Grenada Training and Employment Project provides for the design and delivery of training programmes to enhance the occupational and life skills of the unemployed. The project aims to meet the short-term needs of local industries with the greatest potential to absorb persons with low-skill basic training.

To address the issue of adult illiteracy, the government has adopted the ‘Yes, I can’ programme in collaboration with the Cuban government. ‘Yes, I can’ aims to provide all persons in Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique with the opportunity to read and write, free of charge. Classes are taught at community level both visually and practically.