The Ministry of Education’s Student Support Services Division (SSSD) says the limited number of psychologists in the system continues to affect how quickly students can be assessed.
This was revealed during a Joint Select Committee on Social Services and Public Administration on Wednesday.
Manager of the Student Support Services Division, Dr. Ayinka Nurse-Carrington, told the Committee that while 42 positions exist, just half are currently filled, and psychologists are assigned per district and not per school.
“So we can have one psychologist for the district, one type of psychologist, or even two. Sometimes you stretch so you may have two, or two clinical psychologists, one school psychologist, one behaviour therapist. Clinical psychologists and school psychologists do something different from the behaviour therapist and they don’t deal, they treat with the assessment aspect. So no, we don’t have enough to assess the students because they work by the district, as opposed to work by the school.”
Despite the existing staff, Dr. Nurse-Carrington said Trinidad and Tobago falls short when compared to international standards.
“If we look at the American Psychological Association, the ratio they are using is one to 250. My officers, a district can have over 100 schools. So that is what we are working with. So the numbers may look high for SSSD, but the type of interventions that each of the units has to supply is tailored to the needs of the child.”
She said attempts to fill vacancies have been made.
“What I would see in interviews is that we would get a crop of persons who are well grounded in theory but when it comes to application and understanding the school environment, understanding the realities of treating with a special needs child or a child and parent from a vulnerable community, that is where the challenge comes and, regrettably, some leave.”
Dr. Nurse-Carrington also addressed questions about the Division’s high percentage of referrals processed between September 2024 and July 2025, which stands at 5,429.
“Where it becomes a little more technical is the implementation of the interventions. That’s different from receiving applications and addressing it, because once you receive we go through the case files we decide which unit deals with it and we assign. But then because of the numbers, the ratio, it takes as long as sometimes if it’s not a very critical event it may take, a critical incident, it may take longer, we try to process and do that in a span of 14 days of initial receipt.”
The Student Support Services Division says while assessments are initiated in a timely manner, continued intervention, whether counselling, home visits, or psycho-educational evaluations, depends heavily on staffing capacity across districts.