Education

Primary

Children generally begin their primary education within one of the 73 run government schools or 30 privately run schools, at the age of four. Between the ages of 10-12, children take the Barbados Secondary School Entrance Examination to enter any of the island's secondary schools.

Secondary

Secondary education is provided for children between the ages of 11-18 years.  There are twenty-three Government secondary schools, most of which are co-educational and ten private secondary schools.  Students sit the Caribbean Examination Council examinations at age 16, the equivalent of the British General Certificate of Education, and are tested in a number of academic and technical courses.  Students can continue on in some schools and sit the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Certificate after two years - this is also the equivalent of the British Advanced Level Certificate.

Edu Tech

The government of Barbados embarked on an extensive computerization programme within the primary and secondary schools, to ensure that students are well skilled in Information Technology.  The objective of this programme was to enable students to develop inquiring and creative minds, as well as to develop a workforce that is skilled in information technology.

Tertiary

The presence of several tertiary and training institutions provides the workforce with opportunities to continuously upgrade its skills.  Barbados is home to a campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), which has partnerships with universities in the US, Canada, Europe and China. Other government owned tertiary institutions include The Barbados Community College which offers Associate Degree programmes in academic, vocational and technical areas; The Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic which provides students with the necessary technical and vocational training that would equip them with the skills necessary to be part of a highly trained workforce and the Erdiston's Teachers College which provides training for non-graduate and graduate teachers at both Certificate and Diploma level.