Bahamas News
BAHAMAS: The Country’s Education System to be Transformed to Meet 21st Century Standards
#Nassau, March 26, 2019 – Bahamas – The government of The Bahamas is taking an aggressive stance in overhauling its educational system for future generations in order to ensure the country is equipped to face 21st Century demands, said Prime Minister the Most Hon. Dr. Hubert A. Minnis in his second Report to the Nation for 2019, Monday evening, March 25. Prime Minister Minnis outlined some of the key initiatives that have been undertaken by the government to meet the objective in this national address, which focused on Education, Safety & Security, and Culture.
“Education is at the very core of our economic and social development. Our mission is to ensure that everyone has access to the educational opportunities they need and deserve, in order to succeed in life and to become responsible citizens,” said Prime Minister Minnis. “We cannot, and we will not advance as a country, if we fail to make great strides in education and training, at every level. Since Majority Rule, we have made tremendous progress in universal access to education. Government- and church-operated schools have successfully educated thousands of young Bahamians, many of whom went on to tertiary education.”
He said that tribute must be paid to the generations of teachers, principals and educational professionals, both in the public and private school systems, who have dedicated their lives to education.
Reform of the educational system must impact every stage of learning including: preschool, primary school, junior and senior high, as well as BTVI, the University of The Bahamas, and other education and training agencies, he noted.
“We have to think big, and to act boldly to secure our future! Beginning this September qualifying students will be able to attend the University of the Bahamas tuition-free. We will make more announcements on this at a later date,” said the Prime Minister.
Expressing the government’s commitment to expanding access to technical and vocational skill training, for many more Bahamians, he said that in August 2018, $2.6 million dollars for scholarships was allocated to BTVI. The Government awarded, $1,000 scholarships, to students enrolled in full-time programs, inclusive of preparatory programs, certificate programs, diploma programs, and associate degree programs.
Named the ‘Bahamas Be Your Own Boss’ (BYOB) scholarship, it is geared toward providing students mainly between the ages of 18 to 25 years old with the requisite technical and vocational skills to start businesses and/or, secure employment in the business sector. Accordingly, approximately 80 percent of the scholarships were awarded to students who met the criteria. Special consideration was given to Family Island students who reside in areas where fulltime programs are not available. The remaining scholarships, he noted, will be awarded to individuals over the age of 25 years old, on a case-by-case basis.
Early childhood education is also being enhanced with the Bahamas Early Start (BES) Project. This project would fortify the sector by focusing on the equitable delivery of comprehensive, and quality childhood development for all children from the earliest stages of development.
“This project will impact both public and private pre-schools through: the revision of the national pre-school curriculum; the training of teachers, care givers, and teacher’s aides on effective strategies in early childhood education; and through parent information and education,” he said.
In April 2018, the Ministry of Education introduced the Universal Pre-Primary Education Initiative to key education stakeholders. The initiative will increase access to pre-primary education for three and four-year-olds throughout the country.
At the beginning of the 2018/2019 academic year, three new preschool classrooms were opened in New Providence. An additional four new state-of-the-art preschool classrooms are nearing completion.
An additional 700 students have been enrolled in public and private preschools through the Universal Pre-primary initiative. Of this number, approximately 400 vouchers have been paid to the Ministry of Education-approved private preschool providers through the Private Preschool Partnership Program.
The Prime Minister said that three and four-year-olds whose parents could not afford to send them to preschool now have access to pre-primary education, to prepare them for first grade.
“We have launched a Lower Primary School Literacy effort,” he said. “The goal is to implement strategies to increase the percentage of students achieving A-D in Language Arts in the Grade Level Assessment Test, known as GLAT.”
The government also launched a pilot programme to introduce tablets to preschoolers in public preschools. Eleven preschools on the islands of New Providence, Grand Bahama, Long Island, Andros, Cat Island, and Abaco, participated in the project.
Prime Minister Minnis said that a laptop and LCD projector were given to each teacher, and an Amazon Fire Tablet, to each student. These devices, he explained, are being used to support the teaching and learning process in preschools, by providing students and teachers with technology that may help to develop and to enhance 21st Century learning skills.
Teachers and teacher’s aides were trained in the use of the technology devices and the Whispercast Management system. He said that students use selected educational software on the devices for a maximum of thirty minutes three days per week to support the current interactive preschool program.
Infrastructural upgrades have also taken place at most of the preschools, to accommodate the increased demand for Wi-Fi and Internet connectivity. The remaining schools will be upgraded by 2020, through the Smart School Initiative.
“We will launch a pilot program at the Anatol Rodgers High School for the use of tablets in high schools,” he said. “The pilot will test the efficacy of digital literacy on student achievement at the high school level, and examine student attitudes toward using technology across the curriculum and subject disciplines.”
As of December 2018, the Ministry of Education acquired 12,000 digital devices for distribution in the schools. The Prime Minister said that contracts have been signed with the country’s two major Internet service providers to install high-speed Internet services, in all government-operated schools.
“This high speed service, will enhance teleconferencing and closed-circuit television,” he said. “Teleconferencing, will help us to expand e-learning, and meetings between district superintendents, principals, and others with the Ministry of Education.”
The government also intends to boost distance education to enable schools throughout the country to engage in instruction that may not be available at their school. This may include instruction from other jurisdictions.
“We are continuing our school modernization program, with expanded and new school facilities that will improve the learning environment as facilities are built renovated and upgraded,” he said.
A new San Salvador High School was completed in 2018. In addition, A.F. Adderley Jr. High, CH Reeves Jr. High, Eva Hilton Primary School, and North Eleuthera High School, have been expanded and renovated.
The Prime Minister said that the government is reviewing, urgent structural repairs, which will be addressed before the start of 2019/2020 school year.
By Betty Vedrine
Release: BIS
Photo Caption: Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Dr. Hubert Minnis made his second Report to the Nation for 2019 on Monday evening, March 25.
(BIS Photo/Yontalay Bowe)
PM: Project delivers on promise and invests in youth, sports and national development
GRAND BAHAMA, The Bahamas — Calling it the fulfillment of a major commitment to the island, Prime Minister Philip Davis led the official groundbreaking for the Grand Bahama Aquatic Centre, a facility the government says will transform sports development and create new opportunities for young athletes.
Speaking at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex on February 12, the Prime Minister said the project represents more than bricks and mortar
— it is an investment in people, national pride and long-term economic activity. The planned complex will feature a modern 50-metre competition pool, designed to meet international standards for training and regional and global swim meets. Davis said the facility will give Bahamian swimmers a home capable of producing world-class performance while also providing a space for community recreation, learn-to-swim programmes and water safety training.
He noted that Grand Bahama has long produced outstanding athletes despite limited infrastructure and said the new centre is intended to correct that imbalance, positioning the island as a hub for aquatic sports and sports tourism.
The Prime Minister also linked the development to the broader national recovery and revitalisation of Grand Bahama, describing the project as part of a strategy to expand opportunities for young people, create jobs during construction and stimulate activity for small businesses once operational.
The Aquatic Centre, he said, stands as proof that promises made to Grand Bahama are being delivered.
The project is expected to support athlete development, attract competitions, and provide a safe, modern environment for residents to access swimming and water-based programmes for generations to come.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
The Bahamas, February 15, 2026 – For the better part of three years, Bahamians have been told that major Afreximbank financing would help transform access to capital, rebuild infrastructure and unlock economic growth across the islands. The headline figures are large. The signing ceremonies are high profile. The language is ambitious. What remains far harder to see is the measurable impact in the daily lives of the people those announcements are meant to serve.
The Government’s push to secure up to $100 million from Afreximbank for roughly 200 miles of Family Island roads dates back to 2025. In
its February 11 disclosure, the bank outlined a receivables-discounting facility — a structure that allows a contractor to be paid early once work is completed, certified and invoiced, with the Government settling the bill later. It is not cash placed into the economy upfront. It does not, by itself, build a single mile of road. Every dollar depends on work first being delivered and approved.
The wider framework has been described as support for “climate-resilient and trade-enhancing infrastructure,” a phrase that, in practical terms, should mean projects that lower the cost of doing business, move people and goods faster, and keep the economy functioning. But for communities, that promise becomes real only when the projects are named, the standards are defined and a clear timeline is given for when work will begin — and when it will be finished.
Bahamians have seen this moment before.
In 2023, a $30 million Afreximbank facility for the Bahamas Development Bank was hailed as a breakthrough that would expand access to financing for local enterprise. It worked in one immediate and measurable way: it encouraged businesses to apply. Established, revenue-generating Bahamian companies responded to the call, prepared plans, and entered a process they believed had been capitalised to support growth. The unanswered question is how much of that capital has reached the private sector in a form that allowed those businesses to expand, hire and generate new economic activity.
Because development is not measured in the size of announcements.
It is measured in loans disbursed, projects completed and businesses expanded.
The pattern is becoming difficult to ignore. In June 2024, when Afreximbank held its inaugural Caribbean Annual Meetings in Nassau,
Grand Bahama was presented as the future home of an Afro-Caribbean marketplace said to carry tens of millions of dollars in investment. What was confirmed at that stage was a $1.86 million project-preparation facility — funding for studies and planning to make the development bankable, not construction financing. The larger build-out remains dependent on additional approvals, land acquisition and further capital.
This distinction — between financing announced and financing that produces visible, measurable outcomes — is now at the centre of the national conversation.
Because while the numbers grow larger on paper, entrepreneurs still describe access to capital as out of reach, and communities across the Family Islands are still waiting to see where the work will start.
And in an economy where stalled growth translates into lost opportunity, rising frustration and real social consequences, the gap between promise and delivery is no longer a communications issue.
It is an inability to convert announcements into outcomes.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
A hardline strategy that reduced murders, gunfire, and collateral deaths
The Bahamas, February 8, 2026 – What happens when police stop routinely granting bail to high-risk suspects and aggressively execute outstanding warrants? In The Bahamas, the answer in 2025 was fewer murders, fewer gunshots, and safer communities.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force arrested 4,337 individuals on outstanding warrants last year, ensuring suspects were brought directly before the courts instead of being released back onto the streets. At the same time, police significantly curtailed the use of police bail for high-risk and repeat offenders, particularly those already entangled in violent disputes.
Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles said the shift was informed by hard lessons from previous years. Intelligence reviews showed that
many homicide victims were not random targets, but men already wanted by law enforcement and — critically — by other criminals. When released on bail, those individuals often became targets themselves, triggering retaliatory shootings that spilled into neighbourhoods, roadways and public spaces.
By keeping high-risk suspects in custody pending court appearances, police say they disrupted that cycle — removing both potential offenders and potential victims from the streets.
The impact was stark. Murders declined by 31 percent in 2025, falling from 120 in 2024 to 83, the largest percentage decrease in homicides since national tracking began in 1963 and the lowest murder count in nearly two decades.
Police leaders say the strategy also reduced the collateral damage that had increasingly alarmed communities. Innocent residents had been caught in “sprays of gunfire” as targeted attacks unfolded in residential areas, at traffic stops, and in public settings.
Gun-violence indicators reflected the change. Gunshot reports fell by 35 percent, while incidents detected by ShotSpotter technology declined by 29 percent, confirming that fewer shots were being fired across the country.
“Gunshots ringing out and cutting through our peaceful paradise were down remarkably,” Commissioner Knowles said, attributing the improvement to decisive enforcement, tighter bail practices, and sustained pressure on offenders.
Police also intensified enforcement against breach of bail conditions, charging and detaining more suspects than in any previous reporting period. Officers say the approach removed the opportunity for repeat offending while matters were before the courts.
Police leadership said the results go beyond statistics. By limiting bail for high-risk suspects and executing warrants at scale, the strategy saved lives, protected bystanders, and restored confidence in public safety.
In 2025, fewer people were hunted, fewer bullets were fired, and fewer families were left grieving — a shift police say was no accident, but the result of deliberate, hardline choices.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
