Thousands of students in Trinidad and Tobago are leaving the education system without full academic qualifications.
That’s according to Education Minister Dr Michael Dowlath and Minister of Tertiary Education and Skills Training Professor Prakash Persad.
Speaking at MIC Institute of Technology’s National Engagement for Guidance and Counselling Professionals on Wednesday, Minister Persad said thousands of secondary school students are leaving the education system without full certificates.
“They don’t have full certificates, CXC, CSEC certificates. Where are they? What became of them? They comprise of two sets of people: those who would have gone through the school system and those who fell off, who didn’t go, period.”
Minister Dowlath said the problem begins long before students reach CSEC examinations.
“In the SEA exam for 2025, last year, 6,000 students made less than 40%, so close to 18,000. And then when our students get into secondary school, close to 18,000 enter, and just about 14,000 write CSEC. So it means then, along the way, some of them drop out of the system or have to move out because probably of the kind of challenges they have been having.”
Dr Dowlath explained that many students leave the school system without meaningful qualifications, even at an early age.
He stated, however, that the Education Ministry is implementing a plan to address the issue.
“We are targeting 21 of our secondary schools to upskill the technical vocational subjects in terms of giving resources to those labs so that there will be an alignment with the curriculum and the pathways that will lead to MIC and YTEPP and NESC and all of those institutions.”
Professor Persad said his Ministry is also working alongside the Education Ministry.
“YTEPP will be the starting point. If you have not qualified in any way, you do a YTEPP course, a pre-certification course that allows you to come up in the skills training sector to MIC, to NESC, to UTT, to COSTAATT, etc.”
The event equipped guidance and counselling professionals with information on MIC-IT programmes, helping them guide students towards training and career opportunities.