Suriname

About 90 percent of all Suriname's four- and five-year-old children enroll in preschool. The 16,000 children enrolled in nursery school in 1993 were taught by about 600 teachers, virtually all of them female. After their second year, the children enter primary school, which consists of grades one to six. In 1993 about 71,000 students were enrolled in 297 primary schools, an increase of only 7.7 percent over the previous 10 years. About half of these students were enrolled in religious schools. Successful completion of primary school is based on an examination administered nationwide at the end of grade six. Those who pass continue to one of the junior secondary schools. Unsuccessful candidates remain at the primary level until they pass the exam or reach the end of compulsory schooling.