Bridging the Caribbean’s Education Gap through Outcomes and Jobs

Across the Caribbean, countries are charting different development paths. Guyana, for example, sits among the world's fastest-growing economies, while other countries - like Haiti - face persistent human capital challenges in areas such as child nutrition, education, skills development and job access, compounded by the country's fragile context. What unites countries in the sub-region, however, is an emerging focus on outcomes-a growing instinct to link every dollar invested to the change it delivers.

Haiti's lack of access to quality, affordable education is one of the country's foremost human capital challenges. Parents pay an average of US$140 per year, per child for private primary education, which makes up 80% of primary schools. Since many Haitians live below the poverty line, more than 250,000 children are not enrolled in school for financial reasons. And, even though most Haitian students attend school for 11.4 years by the time they are 18 years old, this is equivalent to only 6.3 years of effective education, taking into account the quality of learning.

Even in a very challenging context, outcomes are beginning to shift. Each school year, about 80,000 students are enrolled in public primary schools and 37,000 in private primary schools in the South, thanks to investments in textbooks, teacher training, school management, and school infrastructure. Across the country, 100,000 grades 1 and 2 students now have textbooks in Kreyol, theirmother tongue and more than 650 schools have benefited from training and pedagogical support related to the use of these new textbooks. These multi-level interventions not only improve learning, they open pathways to better livelihoods and jobs for Haitian youth. More than 500,000 students have been supported with better education.

"The Caribbean's education system is undergoing a shift", said Lilia Burunciuc, World Bank Director for the Caribbean. Education needs vary across countries, and we are keen to meet those needs and see Caribbean lives positively impacted, by improving access and facilities and, importantly, ensuring the quality of education provided is good - whether students come from low or high-income backgrounds."

Guyana is experiencing rapid economic growth, with estimates suggesting GDP per capita could reach US$35,000 by end-2026, up from US$4,000 in 2016.  As this transformation is driven by the country's burgeoning oil sector, the government recognizes that sustainable, inclusive growth depends on building human capital-especially through education and skills for a challenging job market.

Guyana's education system has faced challenges including disparities in learning outcomes, particularly between coastal and hinterland communities. For example, girls in the country's coastal regions have historically scored between 20 and 23 percentage points higher than their peers in the hinterland in Mathematics and English, with similar gaps for boys.

To keep up with a developing economy, the skills and education needed for Guyana's growing and future workforce are also undergoing a transformation. At the early childhood education level, 14,000 students in Guyana's hinterland have new learning materials or textbooks and are benefiting from enhanced learning techniques, with 3,700 early childhood education teachers having been trained. The country has also trained 280 teachers in the use of smart classrooms and 10 smart classrooms are already in use.

In higher education, the University of Guyana now boasts a new Faculty of Health Sciences building which has facilitated increased enrolment and enabled the medical school to regain its medical accreditation for an additional four years. Across the Bank's support to education in Guyana, 44,000 students and teachers have benefited. These efforts are helping align education with employability, translating learning into opportunity and skills into jobs. As the Government of Guyana's key education partner, the World Bank is driving dialogue, ensuring each reform leads to measurable outcomes.

Outcomes in the Caribbean may be numerically small but deeply transformative. Each gain in learning and skills has ripple effects across communities, shaping future livelihoods, jobs, and resilience. The World Bank team continues its focus on turning outcomes into opportunities, and opportunities into better jobs and lives for the people of the Caribbean.