Trinidad and Tobago

At the secondary education level, gross enrollment ratios at the end of the 1990s were 88 percent for both male and female students and net enrollment ratios were 72 percent for males and 75 percent for females. However, gender equity did not fully exist at the secondary level. A shortage of seats in secondary schools meant admission was dependent on the scores students earned from the primary examinations known as the CEE. Although more girls than boys scored highly on this exam, girls and boys were admitted to secondary schools in the late 1990s in equal numbers. As the authors of a June 2000 World Bank report noted, "Despite their higher registration and scoring on the CEE, females were placed in secondary school spots about 4 percent less frequently than males during the 1990-1996 period." The problem of lack of space in schools at the secondary level is a serious one. In 1996, of 29,773 students who were examined with the CEE, 22,468 passed but only 18,201 were placed in secondary schools. According to the World Bank authors, post primary centers and youth camps enrolled 1,378 students who did not enter regular secondary programs, 2,695 students repeated Standard 5 (i.e., the fifth and final standard grade of primary school), and 6,805 remained educationally unaccounted for, apparently having dropped out of the system without going on (at least not immediately) to secondary instruction.