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Caribbean Islands Education
Churches have played a significant role in Dominica through the
establishment of institutions for formal and informal education.
The influence of the church began with the arrival of the
colonizers, and institution played an important role in subduing
the Caribs and Westernizing the African slaves. Direct involvement
in formal education by the churches began in the 1800s, when the
Roman Catholic and Methodist churches, which had already
established congregations in various parts of the islands, became
involved in providing primary education. Secondary education began
in the 1850s, when nuns of the Roseau Convent started classes for
a limited number of girls in the city. The Dominica Grammar School
for boys was established by the government in 1893, and in 1932 the
Roman Catholic St. Mary's Academy opened its doors to Roman
Catholic boys. Soon after, the Methodists started a secondary
school for girls.
Until the 1960s, the difficulty of access by road and the
continuing concentration of most services in the capital prevented
all but a select few students living in the city from attending
secondary school. It was only with the construction of roads and
schools throughout the island that formal education became
available to the resident rural population. This period of the
1960s also saw the emergence of a public educational system,
especially on the primary level. In the mid-1980s, all but two of
the nation's sixty-six primary schools were operated by the
government. Dominica's six secondary schools were equally divided
between government and religious institutions. Enrollment figures
for 1984 indicated that 17,456 students attended primary schools
and 3,443 went to secondary schools. Beyond the secondary level,
Dominica had a two-year technical college that in 1984 enrolled 120
students.
An island-wide network of day-care centers and preschools--
operated by a Roman Catholic women's organization called the Social
League--served children up to the age of five. Since the mid-1970s,
the preschool program has benefited from training and financial
support provided by the government and international agencies.
Children attended the primary school system between the ages of
five and fifteen. By age fifteen, they were usually in third form
(equivalent to eighth grade in the United States) and prepared to
enter secondary school. Four of the secondary schools accepted
students at the age of twelve on the basis of their performance on
a Common Entrance Exam administered by the Ministry of Education.
In the period from 1979 to 1984, only 28 percent of the 11,346
students who sat for this examination passed. A great deal of
controversy surrounded the Common Entrance Exam, which was viewed
by many educators as an inadequate assessment of a student's
potential to perform at the secondary-school level. Critics also
suggested that the test was too limited in scope to assess capacity
for training other than that provided by the traditional secondaryschool curriculum.
Secondary school continued up to fifth form (the equivalent of
tenth grade). Most students ended their formal education at this
point; few continued private studies in preparation for the
Advanced Level exams to qualify them for university entry at the
sophomore level. Technical training was available at the Government
Technical College, which conducted courses in such areas as
electrical engineering, mechanics, woodwork and carpentry, and
agriculture, as well as a parallel program in the academic subjects
taught at the secondary schools.
Campuses of the University of the West Indies (UWI) are located
on the islands of Trinidad, Barbados, and Jamaica. The prohibitive
cost of study at UWI (approximately US$6,000 per year) meant that
in the absence of a scholarship, loan, or independent family
income, many capable students from Dominica were unable to continue
their education. In 1980 the UWI Extra-Mural Department introduced
a local program that enabled high-school students and working
adults to study for and take the Advanced Level exams. Those
attaining passing grades were able to take courses in Dominica
equivalent to the first year of university education. This program
has allowed students to cut one full year out of their overseas
university costs. Since 1970, loans also have been available at
competitive interest rates (9 to 10 percent) from the local
Development Bank for overseas study; repayment does not commence
until after the course of studies is completed.
In the late 1980s, there were no laws requiring children to
attend school, and it was not uncommon for school-age children to
work full- or part-time. Education has, however, been the channel
through which many have advanced themselves materially and
socially. Dominica has a better than 87-percent literacy rate, and
peers, family, and community have pressured young people to attend
school and to do well. The pressure for formal education, however,
has unfortunately depreciated the value of farming as a career.
Data as of November 1987
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