Shrinking Numbers, Growing Fears at Bustamante High

Bustamante High School is fighting to keep its gates open as its student population shrinks dramatically, from an average of 1,000 five years ago to about 400 today.

Principal Wayne Evans said the decline reflects low admission rates and severe socioeconomic pressure. Some students leave school before completing their education because their families need income. Others attend inconsistently because they have become providers at home.

About 60 percent of the school’s students come from single-parent households headed by mothers, Evans said. The pressure becomes especially strong in upper school, when students in grades 10 and 11 weigh the need to earn money against the prospect of passing the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exams.

“If we start off with 100 children, particularly in upper school, our grades 10 and 11, the economic pull for them to earn to support the family is very strong,” Evans said. “Unless they’re doing well in school academically or they feel that they’re going to probably be able to pass the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exams, you’re not going to see them still in school because their mind is now on surviving, so they don’t finish school.”

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If we start off with 100 children, particularly in upper school, our grades 10 and 11, the economic pull for them to earn to support the family is very strong. Unless they’re doing well in school academically or they feel that they’re going to probably be able to pass the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exams, you’re not going to see them still in school because their mind is now on surviving, so they don’t finish school.

He estimated that the school loses about 20 percent of students by the time they reach grades 10 and 11. Parents can reinforce that pressure, he said, with significant numbers leaving after the first term and December examinations.

Evans said the situation is frustrating because many students have the ability to succeed if they remain in school. Some arrive performing well below grade level but begin to improve. Yet parents sometimes tell the school they cannot afford to keep their children enrolled, forcing them into what he called “survival mode.”

Admissions have also weakened. Bustamante received only 28 new students after the latest Primary Exit Profile results, compared with 47 last year. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the school typically received more than 100 new students and sometimes about 180. The current grades eight and nine are its smallest cohorts, adding to fears about the school’s future.

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Look here, I just can’t afford to send my child to school.