The history of education in Trinidad, 1900-1938
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Date
1983
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Abstract
The intention of Trinidad's educational policy makers was to spread the English language and culture via the primary schools, and at the same time, maintain a curriculum that would reinforce the position of the majority of people as agricultural workers. Denominational control of education, rooted in 1870, expanded and flourished, and by the 1920s and 1930s, there were proportionately more denominational schools and fewer government schools than there had been in 1900. The most significant development of the inter-war period was the abolition of payment-by-results in 1921. This change resulted in real improvements in the effectiveness of primary schools. The period under review also witnessed sustained attempts to teach vocational education in schools. The East Indian population posed a special problem due to cultural and linguistic differences, and their special needs were met largely by the Canadian Presbyterian missionaries. Competition was intense for the small number of free places offered to local secondary schools and to foreign universities. Repeated attempts by articulate sections of the population to increase the availability of both secondary and tertiary education were largely ignored. The number of teachers increased to meet the growing provision of school places, and from the 1920s, enhanced salaries and better training opportunities went a long way to stimulating improvements in the educational system