Bahamas

http://www.gloriousbahamas.com/bahamas-education.html

Bahamas Education

The Bahamas education system is comparable to many Western Countries. About 24

per cent of the countrys budget is allocated to education, the governments top
priority. Education in The Bahamas is compulsory from ages 5 through 16, with some
64,000 students attending school (primary level - ages 5 to 11 and secondary level -
ages 11 to 16). The country boasts an adult literacy rate of more than 95 per cent.

Public or Private?
The Bahamas has both public and private schools. The Ministry of Education operates
158 English schools, while private schools account for 52 of the countrys schools.
The government has put tremendous effort into developing its education system,
making it available to all Bahamians at no cost, regardless of their financial means.

The School System

The Bahamas education system is based on the British model.

In primary grades (the first six), students advance depending on their exam
performance at the end of each academic year.
In secondary grades, students must take their first major external exam, the
National Junior Certificate Examination. In order to graduate, they must pass
the Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE).

Post-secondary Education
After successfully completing secondary school, the Bahamas education system offers
Bahamians the opportunity to pursue post-secondary studies. Numerous schools offer
vocational training for adults.

The Princess Margaret Hospital has its own nursing school.

The University of The West Indies Centre for Hotel and Tourism
Management, located in Nassau, offers bachelor degrees in hotel
management and tourism.
Founded in 1974, The College of The Bahamas is the only tertiary level
educational institution in the country with a wide range of programs leading
to bachelor and associate degrees. Although it previously offered only a 2-
year program, it now offers a 4-year program.

College Education
Several non-Bahamian colleges offer higher education programs in The Bahamas.
Some American universities, such as the University of Miami and Nova Southeastern
University, hold classes leading to various degrees on weekends and in the evenings in
Nassau.

The Bahamas education system classifies schools into three major categories:

primary for children ages five to ten

secondary for ages eleven to seventeen
and schools for all ages in areas where more than one school is not justified.

In general, schools in the Family Islands are for students of all ages because of long
distances to residences; in New Providence and Grand Bahama, students are most
often separated according to their age group.
http://www.thebahamasguide.com/facts/language.htm

Language of the Bahamas

The lingua franca of the Bahamas is English.

Most Bahamian's speak English quite well, with some "improvements" (depending on
your point of view) which tend to be looked upon as errors in other English speaking
countries, i.e. "Whay yuh tink use'a goin'? (Translated: Where are you are going?).
Very colorful.

There is no official second language in the Bahamas (which is a good thing), though
everyone is free to speak whatever language they like (unlike those poor French
whose government forces them to speak their language!).

from The Oxford Guide to World English

Tom McArthur
Oxford University Press, 2002

The term Bahamian English refers, like comparable labels elsewhere in the region, to the
continuum of usage from creole to standard. Here, however, although the archipelago is
an independent nation whose head of state is, as with many Anglophone Caribbean
nations, the British monarch, the standard language tilts towards the US. Trade has
always been significant between the two, and the crucial Bahamian tourist industry is
primarily geared to the US market.. In this, the archipelago resembles the British colony
of Bermuda to the north [p. 240]