The Government of St. Kitts & Nevis in supporting the social, moral and economic development of the country, continues to invest heavily into the education of its citizens at all levels. The framework of this report encompasses the following areas that underpin the many reform activities undertaken in the region:

1. Access to education
2. Human Resource Development
3. Curriculum reform and renewal
4. Administration and management
5. Community alliances
6. Non-formal education

The Ministry of Education (MoE) will seek to provide for all citizens and resident, a comprehensive programme of lifelong education for all in order to enable individuals to develop their full potential, and allow them to make a meaningful contribution to nation building. Education will continue to be emphasized as a fundamental human right and a major factor in national development (MoE 5 –Year Plan 1995 – 2001).

To achieve the above statement, the Ministry of Education (MoE) has advanced five goals that would guide the activities in Education for the next six years (1995 – 2001). These are:

• To ensure that every citizen in the Federation has to access to all forms and levels of education and training, consistent with their level of development and their aspirations.
• To enable people to obtain ideals and aspirations that they could not achieve before; that is, to learn and apply information, attitudes, values and skills previously unavailable to them.
• To ensure that the learning environment in our schools and college is amenable to learning and that adequate support systems are available for teachers and students.
• To promote continuous curriculum reform at all levels of the Education System
• To promote excellence and equity in our school system. Excellence will be promoted by encouraging high standards of performance for all who graduate from schools and college in the Federation and equity, by ensuring that our system of education is truly comprehensive and seeing to it that everyone who is capable of learning graduates with some meaningful and employable skills (MoE, 5- Year Plan 1995 – 2001).

The following targets were set in an effort to meet the stated goals:

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

• To provide fully equipped day care centres and pre-schools in each community in St. Kitts and Nevis.
• To institute a comprehensive programme of training for staffers in day care centres and pre-schools.
• Increase the staff for nurseries and pre-schools by providing Teachers’ Aides in each pre-school.
• Introduce an Early Childhood Teacher Training Programme at the College Of Further Education (now Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College) Division of Teacher Education leading to a UWI Trained Teacher’s Certificate.

• To achieve 100% access, and equity in our Education System.
• To strengthen the partnership between the Education Department and Teachers
• To provide qualitative improvements in the learning environment in schools.
• To improve the physical plant of primary and secondary schools.
• To revise the curriculum.
• To increase the human resource capacity in the primary and secondary schools.

• Appoint a multi- professional body by 1997 that would provide a comprehensive assessment of needs.
• Implement reliable and efficient referral procedures.
• Establish a diagnostic unit.

1. EFA STRATEGIES and/or PLAN OF ACTION

The following strategies were set in an effort to meet the stated goals:

• Government will continue to provide supervisory assistance for public and private pre-schools.
• Government will continue to provide training for the staff in public and private pre-schools.
• Government will continue to provide one teacher for each of the private pre-schools.
• Efforts will be made to encourage NGO’s to establish daycare and pre-schools in order to promote greater access.

• In order to achieve 100% access and equity in our Education System, effort will be made to establish partnership involving the Ministry of Education, Labour and Social Security, government schools, and society as a whole.
• One important partnership which will be strengthened is that between the Education Department and Teachers. Every effort will be made to encourage teachers to work with administrators as allies in educational reform.
• Involve the Teachers’ Union in matters of policy formulation.
• Restore fairness, incentive, respect, morale and dignity to the teaching profession by involving them in all aspects of curriculum and school management.
• Schools and College facilities will be appropriately designed for the more varied curricula being offered. Emphasis will be placed in the areas of Science and Technical Studies.
• Introduce mechanisms for continuous curriculum development activities in core subject areas.
• Measures will be implemented to address issues which constrain the implementation of curricula in schools by seeking to ensure efficient and effective management at the school level.
• Introduce mechanisms to enhance the status of teachers and the teaching profession.
• Establish training programmes to upgrade trained teachers to certificate, diploma and degree levels.
• Establish in-service training programmes to allow untrained graduate teachers to receive formal teacher training
• Establish a programme to facilitate the training of teachers at university level to pursue courses in subject areas which are in great demand at the secondary school level and which there are an acute shortage of graduate teachers.
• Provide training for schoolteachers and principals in the use of computers in school administration.

Key officials of the Department of Education and other stakeholders presented their views and priorities. The National Planning Committee (consisted of Ministry Officials, some principals/heads of schools, Lecturers at Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC), persons from the Private Sector and one person from the Central Planning and Statistical Department) examined the views and priorities and decided on those strategies and/or plans mentioned earlier.

The Director of Education Planning manages all Basic Education goals, strategies and /or plans. He examines the goals, strategies and/or plans and reports his recommendations to the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education. He too examines these recommendations and reports them, as well as any changes, to the Minister of Education. These are reported to the Cabinet, (Government Ministers) the body that makes the final decision.

The Government of St. Kitts & Nevis is the main provider of the Basic Education Services. However, between 1990 and the present time some commercial organisations have made some inputs. The Cable Television Providers in St. Kitts have donated a television and VCR to all Primary Schools in St. Kitts. In addition, they have provided free television channels to schools. Cable and Wireless have donated computers to some schools. They have also provided free Internet services to schools and college that are ready for such services. The other schools will receive their free internet services when they are in a state of readiness. In addition, Cable and Wireless have sponsored training camps for young footballers and provided scholarships to pupils in Primary and Secondary Schools and some students at the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College..

The Chamber of Industry and Commerce was represented when the EFA goals and strategies were developed. Hence, I can conclude that this organisation co-operated closely with the Government in defining and implementing the National EFA strategies.

Several agencies and regional bodies have worked and are still working closely with the Government in respect to EFA. For instance, UNICEF has funded Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes before and during the 1990’s. The Organisation of East Caribbean States (OECS) through its OERU is co - ordinating a number of training programmes. The Secondary Teachers’ Training Programme (STTP) is sponsored by OECS/EDF/UWI. There are also an OECS Training of Trained Teachers, a Management Training Programme for Principals, and a Training Programme for Beginning Teachers.

Finally, the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis has applied and was successful in obtaining a large loan from the World Bank to improve the Basic Education Programme. This will be discussed under the next heading.

The Government has increased the budget for the Basic Education Level on a yearly basis. This is to ensure that all of the EFA goals are realised. Below are some examples of projects that have started and are continuing.

• Government has embarked on construction and/or expansion of school buildings on St. Kitts and Nevis.
• Government has taken over and expanded the school-feeding programme so that all primary school children can receive a hot lunch.
• Government has created the Student Education Learning Fund (SELF) in 1993. Through this facility the Ministry of Education has procured and supplied prescribed textbooks to pupils, and paid the fees for students’ external examinations. This is welcomed, particularly in the case of the poor.
• A curriculum Development Unit (CDU) was established in 1997. This unit is in the process of preparing new curricula for primary schools. Training of teachers to use the materials and piloting of the materials will start in the new school year.
• A Teacher Resource Centre (TRC) was established in 1998. Teachers now have a place where they can go and learn new strategies and/or borrow materials to use in their classes.
• Human Resource Development has intensified. In an effort to improve the quality of teaching and learning, teachers are now trained up to degree level in Mathematics, the Sciences, Languages and Information Technology. Training, up to Certificate in Education, is provided for Graduate Teachers who are presently working in the Education System. Additional training is provided for Trained Teachers while a new training programme will be initiated for New Teachers. Finally, the Non-Formal Youth Skills Development Centre has increased its programmes. The last programmes to commence were the training of prison inmates in small engine repairs and tailoring.

You will notice, therefore, from the number of programmes that the Government is serious about improving the education of all its citizens, especially those at Pre-school and the Primary Schools.