PHILIPSBURG--Data collected by United National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) during the 2013-2014 academic year give an insight into the performance of students at the various high schools in St. Maarten for that year.

 

  According to the data, when it comes to the academic level, a total of 98 per cent of students graduated from St. Dominic High School at the Caribbean Examinations Council CXC level during that school year; 94 per cent graduated from Milton Peters College (MPC) VWO; 91 per cent from St. Maarten Academy’s academic section at the CXC level and 69 per cent at the MPC HAVO level.

 

  At the vocational level, 57 per cent of the students graduated from St. Maarten Academy Preparatory Secondary Vocational Education (PSVE) at the PKL level; 53 per cent from MPC TKL and 50 per cent from Sundial School and St. Maarten Academy PSVE, at the PBL level.

 

  The data show that in the 2013-2014 academic year, the student population at private primary schools stood at 62 per cent of the total student population in the country and that of secondary schools was 38 per cent. In the same year, the student population at public schools stood at 32 per cent, while 49 per cent of all teachers taught in primary schools and 51 per cent in secondary schools.

 

  The Education Ministry said in a press release on Monday that the Department of Education and the Inspectorate of Daycare will be requesting additional information from the various schools, day care centres and education institutions as it relates to the statistics. The ministry said the assistance of all education stakeholders will be “greatly appreciated” by the Department of Education for the UNESCO questionnaire to be completed annually by the April 29.

 

  Annually United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)’s office receives notice from UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) concerning the submission of the Questionnaire on Statistics of Education for pre-primary, primary, secondary, post-secondary and tertiary education. The UNESCO office makes contact with its St. Maarten Secretary-General Marcellia Henry and the relevant authorities (the Department of Education and the Inspectorate of Daycare) for the gathering of this data.

 

  UNESCO UIS is the statistical office of UNESCO and is the primary UN depository for cross-nationally comparable statistics on education, science and technology, culture and communication. More than 200 countries and territories participate in the UIS annual education survey, which is the basis for calculating a wide range of indicators.

 

  As an Associate Member of UNESCO, St. Maarten is expected to complete this questionnaire and submit it annually by the April 29 deadline. Information concerning students and teachers, educational expenditure and instructional time is collected from stakeholders and gathered by the Department of Education.

 

  St. Maarten started the process of submitting data to UIS in 2013. However, with the revised International Standard Classification of Education, the questionnaire is requesting more information about St. Maarten’s education system, including the percentage of students by level of education, intensity of participation, type of institution and gender of students, the percentage of graduates by level of education, type of completion and gender of students, the percentage of classroom teachers by teaching level of education, employment status, type of institution and gender of students and the percentage of repeaters for primary and general secondary education by level, grade and gender.

 

  The data collected from St. Maarten and all 200 countries and territories are published annually in Global Education Digest. These data enable our island to see how St. Maarten is compared to other countries in relation to the various international education indicators. The Ministry said it will continue to develop “efficient and effective” data systems for education to ensure that policies and changes follow up on trends and developments that are measured throughout the school years, it was stated in the release.

 

The Daily Herald