A World in Transition Education and the New Wealth of the Caribbean

By Dr. Livingston Smith

In the previous article in this series, I argued that the Caribbean needs a productivity revolution. Stronger regional cooperation can widen our opportunities, but what we make of them depends on the capabilities of our people and institutions. I ended by promising to examine how education, management and institutional reform could turn that ambition into practice. Education is the place to begin.

The changing global order makes the question urgent. Artificial intelligence, digital services and the rapid circulation of information are changing how people work, how businesses compete and where value is created. Countries that educate their citizens well are better placed to develop new industries, improve existing ones and adapt when circumstances change. Those that leave large numbers without the foundations for further learning will find their choices increasingly restricted.

Education has become the new wealth of nations. A country’s prospects depend increasingly on what its people understand, what they can create and how effectively they can apply their knowledge. For small Caribbean societies, whose natural resources and domestic markets are limited, developing that capacity must be among our most deliberate national commitments.

What education makes possible

An electrician who learns to install and maintain modern energy systems can undertake more demanding work, diagnose faults accurately and reduce costly failures. A farmer who can interpret soil information and plan irrigation, or a hotel supervisor who uses data to anticipate demand and organize staff effectively are all, in their own way, on the cutting edge of knowledge. Education increases what each person can accomplish with the time and resources available. Collectively, output is increased.

The effects extend beyond an individual’s earnings. Skilled workers can help colleagues improve, introduce better practices and make an investment in new equipment more worthwhile. Firms gain a stronger basis for expansion. Communities gain people able to identify problems and organise responses.

Research by leading economists in the field of education, Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann provides strong evidence linking educational quality to economic growth. Their central finding is that what people actually learn matters more than simply how many years they spend in school. Using international assessments of students’ knowledge and skills, they found that countries with stronger educational achievement experienced substantially faster growth in economic output per person over several decades. In one study of developed economies, a large improvement in student achievement was associated with an annual economic growth rate approximately 1.86 percentage points higher over forty years. Sustained over time, such a difference can greatly increase national income and living standards. Their research supports the argument that stronger knowledge and skills help people work more effectively, adopt technology and improve the production of goods and services. These gains take time and depend on wider economic conditions, but the implication for the Caribbean is clear. Expanding access to education must be accompanied by a determined effort to improve what students learn and their ability to apply it.

These gains also depend on the setting in which people work. A well-educated graduate still needs opportunities to use those capabilities, and a skilled worker needs functioning equipment and competent management. Education policy should develop alongside policies that support investment, decent work and the growth of productive enterprises.

But the purpose of education reaches further. It enables people to understand their history, question claims, make ethical judgements and participate intelligently in public life. It gives them greater freedom to discover and develop their abilities. I have long regarded this as central to human flourishing. We should want our people to earn better incomes and also to lead fuller lives.

The Caribbean’s unfinished task

The region’s educational achievements are substantial. Generations have used learning to move beyond circumstances that once sharply limited their prospects. Caribbean teachers, scholars, professionals and skilled workers have contributed at home and around the world. An education revolution must build on that achievement.

It must also confront the distance between having a place in school and receiving an education that equips a person for adult life. A child who progresses through the system without reading confidently faces mounting difficulty in every subject. Weak numeracy narrows access to technical training, financial understanding and many forms of employment. When these weaknesses go unaddressed, later institutions and workplaces inherit the consequences.

Jamaica provides a particularly instructive case. The Education Transformation Commission chaired by Professor Orlando Patterson identified both a learning crisis and serious weaknesses in administration and accountability. Its recommendations called for changes across the system, including stronger early education, better governance and a funding approach responsive to differences in students’ circumstances.

The Commission also proposed evaluating schools partly by the progress they help students make, taking account of their starting points and backgrounds. This matters. A school admitting highly prepared students and one serving children who have experienced deep disadvantage begin with different tasks. Public accountability should recognise educational progress as well as examination results.

The Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) an independent public policy think tank based in Jamaica conducts research on economic and social issues to inform public policy. Its  Education Scorecard 2025, reinforces the urgency. It identifies continuing inequalities linked to income, geography and disability, alongside weaknesses in learning and in the way resources are distributed. It recommends stronger early childhood provision, earlier identification of students needing support and funding that responds more closely to need.

The Jamaican findings should prompt questions across the Caribbean. Which children are falling behind in our own systems? How early do we identify them? What support reaches them, and do we know whether it works? Each territory needs answers grounded in its own evidence.

What the spending comparisons tell us

The financing question deserves care. Some countries need to invest more. Others already devote a considerable share of national income to education and face a pressing challenge in turning that commitment into learning.

For a comparison using the same year and measure, UNESCO Institute for Statistics data published by the World Bank show government education expenditure in 2022 at approximately 5.4 per cent of GDP in Jamaica, 4.6 per cent in Belize and 4.1 per cent in Barbados. The corresponding figures were 6.4 per cent in Finland, 5.2 per cent in Estonia and 2.5 per cent in Singapore. These figures measure government spending relative to the size of each economy. They do not show spending per student or total spending by families and other private sources.

Singapore achieved the highest average scores in mathematics, reading and science in the OECD’s 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment, known as PISA, which assesses the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds. Estonia and Finland also performed above the OECD average in all three subjects. These results invite closer examination of how educational resources support effective teaching and learning, but they do not prove that a lower spending share produces better results. A wealthier country may spend a smaller percentage of its GDP while still providing more money per student. The number of learners, the costs of providing education, private spending and the organisation of the system also affect what such comparisons can tell us.

CAPRI reports that Jamaica allocated 5.7 per cent of GDP to education in 2023, yet faced problems in targeting resources towards early learning and disadvantaged students. Sustained investment needs to be accompanied by a clear account of where money goes and what improves as a result.

International comparisons should help us ask better questions. How much support reaches children with the greatest needs? Are teachers equipped to teach effectively? Are buildings maintained, materials available and interventions assessed? A budget’s educational value emerges in those decisions.

The case for an education revolution therefore begins with a clear purpose. We must help more of our people develop their abilities, while ensuring that public investment reaches the learners and classrooms where it can make the greatest difference. Access matters, but the education received must give people a stronger foundation for the lives they wish to lead.

In the next article, I will turn to what this means in practice, particularly as artificial intelligence changes the demands of learning and work. Teachers, institutions, employers and governments all have a part to play in making that transformation possible.