The Ministry of Education and Technical and Vocational Training announced the reform of the national high school diploma program and established a commission to conduct a review this past July.

Quentin Laroda of the Grand Bahama Department of Labour is commending the government on this move. “From the labour aspect of it, we come across very smart children, very bright children. You have kids that have seven BGCSEs – eight BGCSEs but don’t have a high school diploma. That is an oddity, that does not fit, that does not go. It means that the high school diploma has not done that particular Bahamian and good because its difficult to get into a university or college. Its difficult to get a job. The first thing they ask for is a high school diploma.”

Laroda questions the criteria for obtaining the current high school diploma. He says that if it has become a barrier to students who have left school it needs to be revisited and adjusted.