Education data report reflects poor school results
(CNS): At the end of the 2022/2023 academic year, only 26% of children leaving all government primary schools achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, according to a data report published last month by the Department of Education Services and the Ministry of Education. This is 1% down from the 2021/2022 academic year.
While the figures improve in government secondary schools, the report shows that less than half (48.5%) of students achieved Level 2 standard (based on external examination results) in five or more subjects including English and maths at the end of their high school years (Year 11), and 38.5% of students achieved Level 2 standard in seven or more subjects including English and maths. (See page 36 of the report for the definition of Level 2 standard.)
A high number (79.8%) achieved L2 in English, but maths continues to be a major problem in government schools, and only 52.3% reached L2 standard at the end of high school.
By the end of Year 12, after students who attended the Cayman Islands Further Education Centre (CIFEC) had the opportunity to retake external exams, 56.5% of students had achieved five or more Level 2 subjects including English and maths, and 48.9% had achieved seven or more L2 subjects including English and maths.
The education budget accounts for one of the largest chunks of government spending, at around $200 million annually, which does not include scholarships for post-secondary education. The money invested in government-owned schools per child is one of the highest rates in the world, but a high proportion of students fail to reach basic expectations in core subjects.
Girls continue to outperform boys in school from start to finish and across all subjects, in some cases by significant numbers. At the end of the 2022/2023 school year, 75% of Year 11 girls but only 60.5% of boys had passed five L2 subjects. However, problems with maths are universal and only 53% of girls and 51.5% of boys had failed to reach Level 2 in this subject.
By the end of Year 12, 63% of students had reached L2 in maths, up significantly from 48% in the previous cohort. This was largely due to a jump to around 67% in girls after the opportunity to retake the exam.
Meanwhile, the government will spend a significant amount of public cash on facilities as well as education services this year and next, including a new high school on Cayman Brac and repairs to the existing estate. Over the last year, the government has spent money on security booths, upgrading air-conditioning systems and roof repairs.
In a press release last week, Education Minister Juliana O’Connor-Connolly said that investing in schools was not just about blocks and cement but investing in the future of our young people. “These improvements will ensure our students have the best possible environment to learn and grow, preparing them to be successful contributors to our community,” she stated.
However, neither the minister nor any education officials have commented on the new data report.
See the report in the CNS Library.
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Category: Education, Local News
Not enough blame being put on the parents. They leave it up to the school to raise their kids and nothing’s being done at home. Too busy partying every weekend while their kids get up to no good. Bring back family life!
Kids spend 65% of awake time from School Years 1 to 12,
far less than with parents at home.
Do your jobs as EDUCATORS!
Or leave!
Yes parents must help, but the buck stops in the classes.
How can a child spend 12 years in an institution and cannot read and write on graduation???!
So did giving the school teachers a huge raise help ???. If some one wants to do a good job they do it, but more money not going to change a person attude towards their work. That’s facts. It’s never been known that everyone does a good job, so raises should NEVER be across the border.
With all do respect if ppl think that the quality of our education system is dependent on the parents of the students then you seriously misunderstand the point of having an education system in the first place. The reality is that parents cannot be depended on which is WHY we need to emphasize the quality of what we can control. We can control the quality of the teachers waaaay more effectively than we can the parent and by controlling the quality of education we can improve the quality of parents down the line. Blaming the current generation of parents or the previous ones is not going to solve the issue.
Get juju out of there asap. Our future depends on it.
Over 100 passionate Comments here, and a dismal Education Standards report this week, showing Primary School literacy and numeracy well below 50%..thus guaranteeing high school failure!
Yet Government still doesn’t see the need to do a comprehensive Education Review; remove the bad teachers from the school yard, and design inclusive systemsto incorporate IT learning and home support.
Privatize all of the government schools and write checks for the tuition.
Keep voting morons in. See where it gets you. There will never be change until you appoint someone to change it.
I have a great idea. Take the Minister of the Failed Education System and make her Premier. Brilliant Bwahaha
There is a legal option to end employment due to lack of performance or better use the section of PSMA to retire civil servants and get rid of all seniors in education including all those seniors n the Des who are just collecting big paychecks for jobs that can be filled by young administrators seeking a public service job.
They will never do that, 3:16. Why do you think there was so much dead wood, mostly failed (so promoted, of course) primary school teachers, in the Education Department for so many years?
This comes down to two basic things: The quality of teachers and the teacher-student ratio in each classroom.
Everything else is meaningless noise. Solve those two problems and Cayman’s education system would be successful and exceptional.
It’s the quality of teachers and no account for their performance
The MPs will
Simply claim they need more pay
Cayman spends more per pupil on state education than any wester country including the US, UK and all of Europe. But get drastically worse results. How can that be?
And, do the students come to school hungry, sleepy, ready to learn? Have they stayed up all night listening to parents fighting ? Are the students high upon arrival? Drunk? Were the parent/parents drunk or high last night? Out all night? Have they completed their homework? Did they bring their backpack to school? Are they worried about the ride / day at school ( peer pressure, gang influence, bullying)?
Oh, it’s so much more than the quality of teachers and the teacher-student ratio.
30 odd employees in one department totally ridiculous and outrageous to keep our children locked up and on probation Rehabilitation mi R@$$ Fleece of our economy continues right ya so!
Fantastic tactics, keep our “Caymanian” kids dumb, unemployed and in prison, while we all sit by complaining behind anon / fake accounts. Then, when we have no future, we’ll continue to complain, while expat kids get educated + the scholarship opportunities and then secure the jobs. – fun times ahead.
The absolute success of your students takes dedicated work of the school’s system, instructors, parents, and students, ALL COLLECTIVELY. So this article is so disheartening. When I went overseas to pursue higher education, my children were in tow. They tested a grade level ahead of their age groups. This made me so proud, coming from the (islands) Cayman Islands. They both finished high school earlier than expected. I was also a very hands-on parent, often in school keeping up with my students plus ensuring that they were comfortable and feeling safe while in school and getting any potential support needed. On island and overseas .
I am not going to point the fingers in any one’s or any government’s direction or play the blame game.
I am going to express though that it is obvious our public school system needs a major overhaul. It is evidently failing our students, and I venture to express this is not an overnight not nearly 3 1/2 years-old-occurrence.
I do not have the answers to pinpoint directly where the failure or failures are to cause the effect(s). However I believe the system, department and Ministry will know where to begin. We need to begin looking at types of teachers we have in the schools; their personalities; how they are relating to students; how safe and comfortable students are feeling with their instructors and administrators; and just as important that all students are learning at their psychological ability and having their full educational needs met.
I hear many, many complaints of different natures coming from the public school system. We know that it is overcrowded. We know Caymanians are complaining that there is not enough spaces there in the school for their students (due to whatever reason). We know some children have home backgrounds which are obstructing their ability to probably be comfortable and learn once they get to school. We know complaints that teachers are aggressive and hostile, rude to students and students are retaliating in the same measures. We also know that instructors complain of the same from students which in turn I would say could create a domino effect. Perhaps the curriculum and academic instructions used to teach maybe faltering. I suppose I could go on and on.
Some weeks ago I made a comment suggesting looking into certain other school types such as CHARTER and MAGNET schools. These are in different countries including the UK and Canada. They are proven to be successful alternatives between the public school system and the private school system (for those who can’t afford private school).
I know there are some programs that are geared towards students who have different learning styles and different learning challenges but perhaps this too needs a major overhaul.
In the U.S. as an example there is the 504 program and the Individualized Education Program (IEP) for students with psychological and physical learning differences and challenges. I know @rolstonanglin was instrumental in similar programs as Education Minister years ago as I approached him about concerns and he was very receptive.
Whatever the reasons are you cannot allow the public school system to fail our students not in this small jurisdiction and not with the resources that we have. We see more and more private schools opening up but that is not assisting our Public School students and they deserve so much more and to be more successful. Parents start to pay attention to students at home. Resort to encouraging them to read books, take them to the library. Teaching them how to count if even with coins. Spend time with them on homework. Show interest so they can. Start early learning from at home.
Classic Caymanian. Avoid stating the obvious which is Caymanians are responsible for this?
“im not going to point fingers” – why not? you voted for these people?
They are More preparations into Jailing our children than to educate them anyone doubt this look are who and how expansive this prison system and rehabilitation programs are in Cayman what a friggin disgrace spending all this money on trying fix the problems instead of preventing them from occurring.Look no further than our useless minister who only excuse is to hide behind the civil service instead of doing her job Civil service is full of political and inept or incompetent chief officers and high salaried so called experts nothing but lazy ass Worms !
Capitalisation courtesy of the Cayman Islands public school system.
All education staff, from the Chief Officer on down, ultimately report to the Governor via the Deputy Governor.
The politicians approve the budget but Civil Servants are responsible for how it is spent and what value the country gets from that expenditure.
Very naive of you of you really believe that. Or is that you JuJu?
I always ask the question. What percentage of MPs children and top members of the Civil Service’s children attend government schools?
From that you will find how much confidence they have in the public education system.
In the old days, many did, 10:43. Then Roy, Gilbert, Leonard and Oswell said we needed to get rid of the “European” teachers and bring in the “regional” ones who would understand our children and relate to them better because they came from the same ex colonial oppressive British system and culture as ours. 30 years later, how is that working out?
Ask how many new Caymanians and contracted civil servants are sending their children there for free education.
Not sure what point you are trying to make but non caymanians that take up Unfilled places pay for them.
A wealthy world class country with a less than 3rd world education system. The kids attending private school will continue to be advantaged and the locals will have to struggle for the rest of their life because they graduate with a year 9 education. Shameful!
The cost per student in the government schools is far more than the cost of private school and we all know the answer. The majority of elected officials are uneducated and not capable of doing what’s right for the people and the future of this country.
Who needs the 3 Rs when you are guaranteed a civil service job anyway? And surely a decent exorcism will sort out the poor achievers?
Only children of public schools guaranteed jobs are children of new Caymanians and civil servants in contract … numbers don’t lie. They’re also the ones going to UCCI with their Jamaican teachers who give them the attention, good references to get ahead of others. If you think Ja has corruption this place makes it easy for any corrupt expat to thrive
Yes.
Amenn
So did giving the school teachers a huge raise help ???. If some one wants to do a good job they do it, but more money not going to change a person attude towards their work. That’s facts. It’s never been known that everyone does a good job, so raises should NEVER be across the border.
a lot of fingers pointed at everyone except for parents. interesting.
Ask your MP the answer to this multiple choice question if you want to gauge their level of education. Which of the following is correct?
1. Seven and six IS twelve.
2. Seven and six ARE twelve.
@7:51:
The answer is semantic, not arithmetical.
Seven and six are words.
Seven is also a number and so is six.
OK, which is it?
I have a strong feeling that you will be wrong.
Neither is correct.
The angry mob placing blame on polticians and Jamaicans is predictable.
Support, encouragement and discipline are the responsibility of parents.
No ignorant parent wants to deal with a smart kid. So who is not happy with the kids coming out of CIG schools unable to compete for a average job against the average expat kids? Honest question. I think average Caymanian parents are happy with the situation and only the off island educated ones are not. One knows better and the other does not. In any case there will be no changes made and both know that.
Parent. Singular. The one missing is in, or from, Jamaica.
It takes a village to raise a child. Moron.
Juju should be ashamed of herself!
Hear me out. The Premier cannot be in every child’s home to support and encourage learning.
Parents and the home environment are where the troubles begin.
The Premier has been in charge of education for the better part of two decades at this point. So yes she should be ashamed.
I don’t believe this is solely the Minister’s fault. Ministers’ hands are tied on how much they can impact the calibre of staff hired for these key educational institutions due to the separation of power between the Civil Service and the Ministers. The Chief Officers report to the DG and not their respective Minister. The Acting Chief Officer for Education should be held accountable for this dismal performance in our schools. Maybe that is why she has been Acting for so many years…. There are good teachers in Govt schools but many others are themselves poorly educated and have little to no interest in seeing Caymanian children excel in anything. If I was a conspiracy theorist, I would almost feel this is a deliberate effort to dumb down the Caymanian population as we are overtaken in large numbers by another nationality….
Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.
It’s not all her fault. But the fish rots from the head. And she’s been the head for a very long time.
Disinterested baby mamas and Third world teachers result in unemployable school leavers.
Ministers have the power to upgrade curriculum and control qualifications of teachers. But the headlong dive to “Caribbeanise” is easier and dumbs down voters who elect the likes of Seymour, Saunders, Kenneth, Jay , Mac and Juju.
The Chief Education Officers of the last 30 years have almost always been political appointees, albeit under a thinly veiled guise.
The question is, what is the education/academic requirement to be employed as a teacher in Government schools? Bachelor degrees or easy-come Diplomas from our neighbouring Caribbean countries?
Are you a 7th day adventist. That is the requirement
Preference for civil service posts, judicial and core government
Adventist used to be the criterion for employment in the Treasury under a former Accountant General, big time Adventist.
Less money on buildings and more money on teachers. We are not attracting, keeping or rewarding our teachers anywhere near enough. And, frankly, who would choose to work for a structure led by the moron minister who has failed us repeatedly over so many years.
It is always easy to highlight the negative, which mind you is fact, so the news media is entitled to do so, but what is the performance compared to 2022? Primary schools at the same level but significant increases in high school performance. Much to be done in primary still, but kudos to the job at high school. Report even shows where high schools out perform England. Government schools don’t get to refuse challenging students like private schools do, but primary teachers as well as high school teachers are working hard and doing their best.
This is a decades long issue….when Alden was the Minister of Education a new curriculum based upon the English curriculum was adopted. All of the grand plans have come to naught because of the daily lack of structure and chaos in the government schools.
Those currently in charge have been in positions of power, again for decades, and have been promoted up through the system based on what evidence? Bandaids will not work.
If your claim is about challenging students, yeah, so then put structures in place to deal with the challenging students. However, don’t continue to blame the challenging 7 year olds for the fact that the powers that be have left a failing system in place. Obviously the system is NOT working for the MAJORITY of students, so why do we continue with it?
If teachers believe the poor performing or poorly behaved students are pulling down the grades in public schools then lobby for a return of the ‘remedial school’ or ‘alternative education center’.
Come up with solutions not excuses.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. You are correct, we cannot blame challenging 7 year olds for a failing system, and similarly, we can’t discount the impact it has. The students are not to blame, it is incumbent to put measures in place to support them.
My real point which may not be popular is that there is progress being made in some areas, albeit not acceptable attainment. The schools aren’t where they should be, but they’re better than they were 5 years ago. Is there anywhere that the private school data is provided for a true comparison of performance? Government schools need to eliminate poor teachers and promote and replicate good teaching practices.
As I said, not a popular stance, but facts are facts, and the simple fact is the system isn’t performing as it should, but it is on an upward trajectory. The term majority was used in your response, and I would say that of students in Year 11 (as per the report on page 11) 79.8% level 2 passes in English, 67.3% in science and 52.3% in mathematics is literally the majority. In maths in particular is it a majority we should accept, definitely not, but it is the majority. Furthermore, in 2022, those scores were 66.1% in English, 66.3% in science and 39.7% in maths. Improvements in ALL of the areas. Further furthermore, when I asked my daughter’s teacher about other subjects for example, passes were either in the 80s, 90s or even 100% for subjects like PE, IT, EDPM, Biology, Principles of Business and many others. I asked this question because I too was (and still am) concerned about the performance of our students when they are leaving school.
Let’s not lose sight of progress in many areas, while RIGHTFULLY addressing and asking for accountability for underperformance in other areas.
Where your statement is actually true in relation to majority is at the primary level where 43%, 41% and 46% obtained the accepted standard in reading, maths and writing, and only 26% were able to do it in all three. That is unacceptable. Major work to be done at primary. Again, not popular, but the same students who at primary 5 years ago and were getting dismal results are now the Year 11 students with 70+, 60+ and 50+ percentage passes in English, science and maths, and in the year prior, those percentages were lower, so facts remain, there has been improvement. Hang their hats on that improvement, definitely not, but at least acknowledge it, I would do so every time.
Thanks for engaging, let’s keep the conversation going if you think it is worthwhile to do so. I appreciate your passion for our children to succeed and for accountability.
Let’s get real here. The “expected standard” is extremely low, particularly in maths. That a “majority”, just, are meeting or exceeding that very low standard is barely any cause for celebration. Considering we spend, per pupil, in excess of double what the UK does this is worse than extremely poor. This is catastrophic.
Just like police service. We have leaders terrified to say no to Jamaicans(since majority) so same crap in police, prison and education will continue
Would the Keysatge 4 results be as high if pupils were doing GCSE’s vs CXC’s?
No
Failure as the Minister of Education after two consecutive terms
does not bode well for good performance in other areas. The education arena is the most painful and costly failure though. It has robbed a generation of real opportunity. I think the Minister knows that she has grossly underperformed and that is perhaps best demonstrated by her failure to attend any public school graduations in 2023.
…but they can all recite bible passages…as a leading Cayman lawyer once said, many years ago….
…”they leave school better prepared for the next life, as opposed to the current one…”
If they would stop pushing children through the system and allow them to repeat if they need to, it would give them an opportunity. Instead, smart Tara lowered the passing grade way back when to say more passed, but at what level?! Bunch of idiots we continue to elect.
A trade school would be great, as not everyone is academically inclined, and as a previous commenter stated, we would need to hire less persons from out of the Country.
*fewer persons
That’s appalling. It’s not like the required standard is very high. Considering we spend more on education per student than any other country on the planet except Luxembourg that’s just embarrassing.
Would like to see how Julianna blames this on Wayne now?
I have been reliably informed that she will blame it on the Civil Servants even though she does not engage with them
Eliminate CXC exams; they offer little value to our children. Let’s return to GCSEs and refrain from compromising our standards to satisfy other Caribbean nations.
Cayman should follow the UK curriculum. WTH is CXC???
Ask Roy Bodden.
His hatred for the British has damaged a whole generation of Caymanians.
Cutting off nose to spite face never ends well.
He bears the most responsibility for this downward decline. He used his new found blackness in the ‘80s and started the focus on Jamaican teachers. But ask any leader in Cayman today the best most productive teachers who didn’t show favoritism to get favors with MLAs etc were mainly from the UK.
So they changed to lower level CXC subjects and want to make people believe teachers from UK can’t teach these subjects!
Until our leaders ( especially the men) stop feeling guilty and scared of standing up to Jamaicans we are all doomed.
Just get your jacan papers through your spouses and buy up property there.
Leave the expats here to be taxed and pay for Caymanians pension and welfare. Since they can’t leave, we can but make them work for us and tax them .
Happy with your Caribbeanisation now..? Or is it Infact Jamaicanisation.?
Is there anything I can read about what Ray Bodden did in terms of Caribbeanisation? I recognise that success has 1000 fathers, and failure is an orphan, and therefore anyone involved in Cayman education over the past couple of decades will be desperate to hide that involvement, but there must be records and articles online surely?
Bodden comes across in the few interviews I’ve read as an angry xenophobic failure, whose radicalisation and lobotomised anti-British attitude caused him to gleefully sacrifice his own people’s children’s future. What am I missing about the man?
Not much, 10:07.
Ironically, the primary school curriculum is UK based…and many of the resources are also UK based.
But all the teachers are jamaican and incapable of delivering it
So a 1/4 meet the required UK standard at primary and 1/2 meet the required Jamaican standard at high school. Hmmm…
I hope Juju will stick to her word and not run again. She is terrible and needs to go.
Juju hasn’t run since middle school. She was a hurdler you know.
LOL only sticking to the $
The schools are being built too big. There are way too many students to each teacher. Smaller classes will mean teachers can give each student the individual support they need.
This is a fixable problem but only if government is willing to tackle the problems. The teachers need to be properly educated themselves, no exorcisms allowed. The parents aren’t held accountable to raise the children and be present and assist with homework or even extra work reading and writing. I’d bet if you polled the students their parents don’t even read to them or read with them every day. There is a drastic difference in public vs private schools here and a lot comes down to parent accountability.
You mean nanny accountability.
Oh please, the children who are failing don’t have nannies.
THIS is why Caymanians can’t get jobs. Its not people from overseas coming here to steal their jobs, its that the people are not fit to work because they don’t even have basic education skills.
If a student cannot grasp the basics, there is no change they’ll ever be able to grasp the more advanced skills needed in the work place.
Why not whitewash ALL local kids together, won’tyou?.
I’m sure from your foreign yards were all flippin geniuses.
Bigot Pompous much!
I think the OP attacks the education system, not it’s victims.
Funny how the private schools don’t have the same problem.
Look at the parents, see the teachers.
The Civil Service is full of them.
Well, that and their lazy and don’t turn up on time. and when they do, they are either shopping on web sites or talking on their phones.
I guess you conveniently forgot that Red Bay primary beat the private schools in a recent math competition. But yeh continue to be divisive.
Heyy Cleophus. Are you from Genius City, in Einstein Nebraska?!
I guess all your people are ethical, toothy, nonprejudiced tanned doctors.
In other news, at the employer of last resort, the civil service, headcount increased 4.6% in Q3 of 2023.
New Caymanians for jobs for their children who finished school or married if their people or the good ole standby. Recruit olive officers then transfer to civil service so they can study in the job to claim expertise
How many more failing years of Juliana oversight and errant policy will the Cayman Islands tolerate? Stay tuned to find out.
I’m with you on this, she needed to step down as education minister years ago!
She and the rest of the government need to be run out on a rail. All they want to do is spend our tax money to buy themselves the next election. But wait, we can take a pledge to educate the children and it will all work out, just ask Eric Bush.
Well, I guess if the education minister is failing we can hardlly expect anything better from the students. I have no statistics to prove this but I don’t think there is another country/jurisdiction that spends so much money on education and gets so little results. I guess two negatives really do not make a positive as spoken by the dear premier.
#worldclass
Another “report” to tell us what we all already know!!! Almost laughable but NOT!
NOW, will our Government, particularly the Education Ministry accept its flaws in our public education system??
Note, we’ve had the same Education Minister for a few election cycles and although the problems pre-date her tenure, she (now our Premier) has done NOTHING to correct and improve the system.
It will be interesting to see whet they do now….if anything!!
Well Juliana has thrown caution to the wind with regards to government education spending (and all other spending as well)
She believes that if only we spent an additional $400 million we would achieve satisfactory results.
Blame our current premier and education minister that the Brac keeps electing. Wake up Cayman, wake up! Bigger campuses don’t equal better education.
Interesting to contemplate why some students performance is not up to standard. Is it the schools, or is it the parents. And if the latter, do they not encourage academics because they don’t believe it is useful, or because 2 working parents don’t have the time/energy to perform their parenting role? And a comment on the school on the Brac – I have not seen it reported that this will include trade school classes and have boarding accommodations for students from Grand. A trade school would be a great asset to the Cayman Islands – young Caymanians can learn high paying jobs that do not require a uni degree – electrician, plumber, carpenter, surveyor, mason – and fewer work permits will be required.
teacher’s housing not boarding school. At least I hope so. Boarding schools aren’t cheap plus it’s a big liability. This is a high school not college.
Or is it dysfunctional parents training the poor kid from birth to be dysfunctional no matter the edumacation? No ignorant parent wants to deal with a smart kid. So who is not happy with the kids coming out of CIG schools unable to compete for a average job against the average expat kids? Honest question. I think average Caymanian parents are happy with the situation and only the off island educated ones are not. One knows better and the other does not. In any case there will be no changes made and both know that.
But the biggest obstacle would be in persuading young Caymanians that a blue collar job, however well paid, is something to be proud of and not socially embarrassing. Somehow less embarrassing to sit on your backside accepting NAU, doing some side hustles or engaging in crime, and bitching about how the expats stole all the jobs.
The minister doesn’t have the first clue about how to fix this. Hint: it’s not by spending $50m on a school in the brac.
School on the Brac will be a trade school with boarding accomodations for students from Grand.
They are moving the high school and it will have housing for teachers.
Because that is efficient.
My heart breaks reading this article. As a 30 year resident I cannot believe that an entire generation of young Caymanians has missed out on a proper education which would enable them to share in the Island’s success. This failure lies squarely in the lap of successive governments that have allowed shiny buildings and new age teaching methods to cloud their judgement and move the Dept of Education away from teaching the fundamentals.
…and in “non-performing/non i.e sub standard parent (singular)…
Devastating. Shocking. Shameful. They’re failing before even leaving primary school level.
Wotes baby, wotes!
What is the root cause of this? It’s plainly not lack of money on schools.
Is it a consequence of Roy Biden’s ‘Caribbeanisation’ of the education system, e.g. replacing first world teachers with third world teachers?
Is it – unpalatable as this may be – simply a consequence of who is breeding, i.e. ‘garbage in = garbage out’?
Something is obviously going very badly wrong. What is it?
I totally agree with you 03/04/24. When the majority of teachers were British our students were doing so much better. They respected the parents and the students and we all respected them. Our kids, and theirs spent time at each other’s homes, had sleepovers, went to the movies together and all got on as friends. This watered down Caribbean rubbish is not fit for purpose. Most of our students thrived under the British system. Too many of the Caribbean teachers are not fully qualified themselves and some of them do not even like our children. How long are we going to put up with this. Some of them are only here for the cash. Past governments also screwed our Caymanian teachers over by giving the overseas contracted teachers who refused to join the Pension scheme 15% of their salaries at the end of each 2 year contract as gratuity while our Caymanian teachers got nothing. They were also given free accommodations. They were not suppose to stay “forever” but they did. They stayed,, were not entitled to any pension but they complained every chance to whichever politician who would listen until they were given a reduce pension along with full free medical. They may be living all the world but if they get a headache government has to pay for it. We also have to pay for hotel accommodation and airfare if they have to travel for medical assistance. Please make some effort to reintroduce the art of teaching to our students who might be interested in becoming teachers.
and people wonder why companies here have to hire from overseas????
Well, it keeps the electorate dumb enough to keep voting in charlatans.
With the amount of teachers being added from the third world, it’s going the way of RCIPS, too.
Cultural problem. Imported from our close neighbours. Isn’t going to change either. Downhill all the wau.
Miss Julie I think we need to spend 50m in the Brac for a high school then name it in your honor.
We all know that expensive buildings guarantee great results. She has been the biggest failure as Minister of Education since Tara Rivers and Alden McLaughlin.
Cayman is crazy because everybody knows the government schools are inferior because they are overpaying many bad teachers and substandard teachers whilst not attracting best in class educators. There is very little value for money in public education. The results clearly support the facts.
Parents are failing their children by expecting miracles from educators when the children demonstrate very little thirst for learning while lacking the soft skills and emotional regulation to merit employment opportunities to the many jobs in the private sector.
The Ministry and Department of Education senior management especially the Chief Officer and her team must be held accountable and need to go. The results dictate that for all to see.
Sadly, CIG and the country is in denial things are getting worse in public schools.
A voucher system would likely improve performance and cut costs.