Trinidad and Tobago

Gross enrollment ratios at the primary level of education were estimated to be 99 percent overall, 99 percent for boys, and 98 percent for girls in 1999. Nearly all schools at the primary level are publicly funded or subsidized. In 1992 the country had about 476 public schools and 54 private schools at the primary level. About 97 percent of the primary students enrolled in schooling in the country were taught in tuition-free, government-financed schools in the early 1990s. From 1991 through 1995 about 55-60 percent of the annual public budget for education was allocated to primary education. Thirty percent of primary students during this time period went to government-operated schools while another 67 percent were taught in schools with government subvention and run by denominational boards. Only 3 percent of primary students in the early 1990s—the children of the wealthy—were enrolled in private schools. In terms of numbers, 177,651 students (including 4 year olds) were enrolled in public primary schools in the 1994-1995 school year while 7,000 students were enrolled in private schools at the primary level.