The Time for Education Reform Is Now

With approximately one quarter of our national budget dedicated to education, we must ask ourselves an honest question: what are we achieving with this investment?

When Minister Melissa Gumbs presented the findings of the national assessment reports for Math and Reading in Parliament, many were understandably alarmed. The data revealed that the majority of our young pupils are struggling with mathematics and problem-solving, as well as reading comprehension. For Math, only 11 percent of students achieved the Mastery level, demonstrating a solid understanding of mathematical concepts. The results were even more concerning in public schools, particularly within the Dutch-language stream.

Should we truly be surprised?

These figures did not emerge overnight. They are symptoms of deeper, systemic challenges that we have long recognized but have not addressed with the urgency required. Research, including the work of Dr. Delory Pierre in 2025, reminds us that educators’ ability to engage in creative problem-solving is shaped by the broader structures within which they operate. When those structures are inherited from colonial models, transplanted without adaptation, and sustained without critical reflection, they can limit innovation and responsiveness to local realities.

Creative problem-solving, particularly in mathematics education, must become central to our reform efforts. Mathematics is not merely about memorizing formulas or reproducing procedures; it is about reasoning, analysis, and the ability to apply concepts to unfamiliar situations. When students are encouraged to think critically, explore multiple strategies, and connect mathematics to real-life contexts, their confidence and competence grow. Strengthening creative problem-solving in our classrooms will not only improve mastery levels in math but will also equip our youth with the analytical skills necessary for national development in an increasingly complex world. The same is true for reading and language skills.

We must therefore ask: does it make sense to continue maintaining a copy-and-paste education system and curriculum modelled after an old Dutch framework, one that is itself under constant revision in the Netherlands? Is the persistence of competing private foundations and fragmented school boards truly serving the goal of equal opportunity for every child in Sint Maarten? Or does it inadvertently deepen inequality and inhibit system-wide reform?

The research has been done. The reports are written. The evidence is clear: our education system is not consistently delivering the outcomes our youth deserve. The pressing question now is not whether reform is necessary, but how we will pursue it, together.

At USM, we confront the consequences of these systemic shortcomings every semester, as students coming from even the most privileged schools are not performing at the desired level. While our primary mission is to provide accessible tertiary education, we have also had to respond to gaps in the preparation of secondary school graduates from Sint Maarten, Saba, and Sint Eustatius. We know, too, that many of our students who continue their studies in the Netherlands encounter serious challenges. Failure and delay rates are troubling. These outcomes are not a reflection of a lack of talent or ambition; they reflect inconsistencies in preparation and alignment between our system and the demands of tertiary education and the world of labour.

This reality led, in part, to the creation of the Caribbean Academic Foundation Year (CAFY) program. Although CAFY was designed to ease the transition into higher education and expose high school graduates to higher education, it has also become a bridge for many students to toughen up their language and math skills, and critical thinking. USM will provide the Windward Islands with another 2 years of CAFY but in the meantime, ideally, the Ministry should be preparing for education reform for the country.

As the first English-language teacher training centre in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, USM has a unique vantage point. Once perceived merely as an alternative for those unable to study abroad, USM has evolved into a national knowledge centre. If we are serious about reform, government, school boards and educators must recognise and leverage this institutional capacity.

One example of what is possible is the Caribbean Teachers as Researchers in the 21st Century (CTR21) project. Through collaboration with sister institutions in Aruba, Curaçao, and beyond, we are strengthening teachers’ research skills and fostering innovative thinking in our schools. We work directly with teachers across school boards, encouraging inquiry into classroom practice and local challenges. This kind of cross-country collaboration addresses the heart of our educational concerns: capacity building from within.

Minister Gumbs is correct in noting that teacher staffing instability is part of a global and regional trend. Across the world, educators face demotivation linked to salaries, shifting policy environments, and changing educational cultures. However, identifying a global problem does not absolve us of local responsibility. It calls us to craft local solutions.

Long-term succession planning is indeed essential. But succession planning cannot occur in isolation. It requires structured collaboration between government, school boards, and USM. It demands a coherent vision for teacher education that is rooted in our context.

We need only look to the experience of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. Over the past six years, their “Samen Opleiden” (Learning Together) trajectory and the centralised Kibrahacha model have demonstrated the power of structured collaboration between teacher training institutions and schools. Under this model, teachers in training spend 60 percent of their time at the higher education institution and 40 percent embedded in schools. Theory and practice develop simultaneously.

At the recent four-country consultation (4LO) among Ministers of Education in the Kingdom, the Kibrahacha model was widely praised. Sint Maarten has been invited to consider joining this trajectory and has a year to do so. Saba and St. Eustatius are prepared to move forward in alignment with us.

Participation would not mean abandoning our uniqueness. On the contrary, it would provide funding and technical support to design a model tailored to Sint Maarten’s multicultural and multilingual reality, and to the specific needs of the sister Islands. Since 2019, I have advocated for precisely this kind of structural, collaborative teacher training model, which can incorporate creative problem-solving. With the same breath, USM has encouraged the Ministry to call for an Education Confrence, with participation of all sectors, including parents as well as experts in pedagogy.

Yet we continue to rely heavily on importing teachers and encouraging school boards to allocate lump-sum funds for fragmented, individual training initiatives. While professional development is valuable, isolated trainings rarely generate systemic transformation. We must invest in a cohesive, sustainable pipeline of locally trained educators with state-of-the-art solutions. The Minister spoke accurately, there are no quick solutions.

Some argue that education reform must begin in the primary schools. I agree. But this immediately raises another question: who will teach in those primary schools, and where will they be trained?

Teachers must not be passive recipients of reform; they must be central architects of its co-creation. They must participate not only in defending good practices and labour conditions, but also in diagnosing challenges and proposing solutions. We need teachers who are critical thinkers, reflective practitioners, and researchers within their own classrooms.

Early and sustained classroom exposure is also critical. Too often, student-teachers encounter the full reality of the profession only in their final year of study, discovering too late that the vocation does not suit them. A model that integrates practical experience from the outset strengthens commitment, competence, and confidence.

Our colonial history need not define our educational future. While our system has inherited structures shaped by that history, we are not bound to replicate them uncritically. By strengthening our own indigenous institutions and prioritizing collaboration over competition, we can reorient education toward the collective good rather than fragmented organizational interests.

The resources exist. The regional partnerships are ready. The opportunity for Kingdom-level support is on the table. What remains is the political will and collective courage to act.

Education reform is not a slogan. It is a responsibility. If we truly believe that our children are our greatest asset, then we must ensure that the system designed to nurture their potential is coherent, equitable, and forward-looking.

The time for education reform in Sint Maarten is not tomorrow. It is now.

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