By Carlena Knight
Although consideration is being given to it in other Caribbean islands, there have been no real discussions over adding sixth form facilities to the nation’s public secondary schools.
Director of Education Clare Browne explained that there are several factors that would hinder the move, the biggest being human resources.
“Sixth form is really a feature of the secondary programme, but you have to have the teachers that are able to teach at the CAPE level … you have to have all the resources in place,” Browne explained.
He went on to question whether there is a true need to add sixth forms when institutions like the Antigua State College (ASC) already offer adequate tuition.
“People can go with CSEC straight to UWI Five Islands and end up with a degree after that. So, is there a real need? I am just asking. We have not analysed it.
“I am not making any pronouncements as to whether there is a real need or not because I don’t know. We will have to analyse it, but is there a real need for it?” he queried.
“I know ASC offers sixth form. I know St Anthony’s Secondary, they do sixth form as well, and I am not sure if there are many persons out there who would say they wanted to do sixth form and they have not gotten an opportunity to do it, but is there a real need to go there when you can go directly to university, whether UWI or any other institution, having completed secondary school? I think not,” Browne added.
Although Browne was somewhat ambivalent on the issue, one principal said he couldn’t “necessarily agree with having a sixth form at every school”.
Samuel Roberts, Principal of the Antigua Grammar School, said there aren’t enough resources or manpower for such, and he is instead in favour of the current system.
“We do not have the resources to run the programme that way. In terms of manpower and resources, the way that we are doing it makes the best use of resources,” he added.
Jamaica is one of the most recent Caribbean countries to announce plans to implement a sixth form programme during the start of the new academic year.
Already, thousands of students have preregistered for the Sixth-Form Pathways Programme, but according to the Jamaica Observer, many institutions are not ready for the initiative due to a lack of resources exacerbated by the recent mass exodus of teachers.
The programme is broken down into three ‘pathways’.
Students pursuing the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) are in ‘Pathway One’. Those who will participate in technical and vocational courses are in ‘Pathway Two’. ‘Pathway Three’ allows students who do not have passes in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) to re-sit subjects or acquire certificates.