Why should Secondary School Students do the CVQ?
Saint Lucia’s Situation:
- Govt. has advanced universal secondary education
- 15% of secondary age graduates enroll in tertiary education
- 85% of secondary school graduates enter the labour market
- Schooling is overly oriented towards an academic career and insufficiently focused on labour market skills
Global Situation:
- Rapid technology change
- Investment in the region requires that the region’s workers are competitive with workers from other countries
- Competitor countries are emphasizing qualifications of workforce
- Worker certification taking place: U.K., Europe, Australia, Canada, South Africa, U.S.A
Other Important Facts:
- A worker with secondary education has on average a 73% higher wage than one with only primary education
- A worker with post secondary education earns a wage 146% higher than a primary education holder
- Over the last 10 years moved from mono-crop based economy to service oriented
- Agriculture sector share in GDP declined from 14.5% in 1990 to 3.3% in 2005
- Tourism sector moved from share in GDP of 9.6% in 1990 to 13.6% in 2005