Trinidad and Tobago
Summary
Around the year 2000, secondary schooling and the needs and problems of youth in Trinidad and Tobago were drawing special attention from government officials and international development specialists. A Youth and Social Development project developed by the World Bank in collaboration with the Ministry of Education is designed to address the very serious problem of insufficient space at the secondary level and the lack of relevance of much of the academic programming to students' real world needs. Summarizing a comprehensive World Bank report detailing the challenges and prospects of reforming secondary education, World Bank authors highlight their findings that "poverty, reduced family care, and exposure to youth protective services and the judicial system pose developmental risks that may contribute to negative outcomes such as youth involvement in crime and drug culture, early sexual activity and pregnancy" (World Development Sources). According to the authors' abstract, the Bank report illustrates "that investments in youth services will help reduce these existing barriers and bring substantial economic and social returns for the individual and for society." The report considers one of the weightiest problems facing educators in Trinidad and Tobago in the first years of the new millennium to be how to mesh the vibrancy and enthusiasm of youth on the verge of adulthood with appropriate guidance and instruction to ensure that those students who face sometimes overwhelming odds against successful entry into adulthood will be able to negotiate a course of study and experience that leads to a future where prospects for success and prosperity are enhanced and not diminished. This is the challenge faced by virtually all societies as the transformation of the global economy propels even small island nations collectively forward towards increasingly complex and intermingled opportunities for social advancement if the attendant risks and demands on their human resources are handled wisely and well.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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—Barbara Lakeberg Dridi
Additional topics
Education - Free Encyclopedia Search EngineGlobal Education ReferenceTrinidad and Tobago - History Background, Constitutional Legal Foundations, Education System—overview, Preprimary Primary Education, Secondary Education