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  • Education Minister Praises Teachers Who Spend Their Own Money on Classroom Supplies

    Education Minister Praises Teachers Who Spend Their Own Money on Classroom Supplies

    At the Ministry of Education’s annual Thanksgiving Service in Antigua and Barbuda, Education Minister Daryll Matthew has delivered a heartfelt tribute to the nation’s teaching workforce, shining a spotlight on the extraordinary uncompensated sacrifices many educators make to support their students.

    Beyond their contracted job responsibilities, Matthew emphasized, countless teachers across the twin-island nation go above and beyond to meet student needs, frequently dipping into their own personal finances to purchase essential classroom supplies and learning materials that the system does not provide. Their commitment also stretches far beyond the standard school day: many arrive hours before the first bell and leave long after the final student has gone home, investing extra time to support struggling learners and plan engaging lessons.

    Matthew noted that teachers fulfill a far more critical role than just delivering academic instruction. They act as early talent spotters, often identifying unique gifts and untapped potential in young students long before the children themselves recognize their own capabilities. This early intervention and encouragement, he said, lays the foundation for lifelong success and personal growth for Antigua and Barbuda’s next generation.

    The minister did not limit his appreciation to classroom teachers alone. He extended gratitude to every staff member that keeps the nation’s schools operating smoothly, including campus principals, custodial teams, school meal program workers, transportation staff, and administrative employees. Each role, he stressed, is an indispensable part of delivering a functional, supportive learning environment for students. He also thanked parents and guardians across the country for placing their trust in the national education system with their children each school day.

    Matthew’s remarks came alongside the official unveiling of the Ministry of Education’s official theme for the 2026-2027 academic year: *“Colouring Outside the Lines: Empowering and Transforming Students, Building Safer, Stronger Communities Together.”*

    Outlining the core vision behind the theme, Matthew emphasized that meaningful, long-term strengthening of Antigua and Barbuda’s education system cannot be achieved by any single stakeholder working in isolation. He argued that meaningful improvement requires coordinated collaboration across every sector of society, extending far beyond the four walls of individual classrooms. The Ministry of Education cannot deliver systemic change alone, he said; neither can individual schools nor family units working independently.

    Instead, Matthew called for aligned action from government bodies, school administrations, households, faith institutions including churches, and the wider local community. He framed both accessible quality education and child safety as shared collective responsibilities, requiring buy-in and cooperation from all groups to build a brighter future for Antigua and Barbuda’s youth.

  • Youth Parliament’s Chantae Thompson Calls for Qualified Mental Health Counsellors in Schools

    Youth Parliament’s Chantae Thompson Calls for Qualified Mental Health Counsellors in Schools

    At a recent sitting of Antigua and Barbuda’s National Youth Parliament, a leading youth official has laid out a compelling vision for holistic education reform, centering the often-overlooked needs of student mental and emotional well-being alongside traditional academic goals.

    Chantae Thompson, the National Youth Parliament Minister of Health, Social Transformation and Youth Affairs, laid out her proposal while speaking in support of the landmark Education Equity, Youth Development and Protection Resolution 2026. Her argument pushes back against the narrow framing of education access that stops at ensuring students have a physical desk in a classroom, arguing that true educational opportunity requires addressing the full scope of young people’s needs.

    Thompson pointed out that many students grapple with unaddressed struggles that impact their academic performance: from underlying mental health distress to disability-related barriers and behavioral challenges that often stem from difficult circumstances outside of school. She posed a pressing question to fellow parliamentarians: “What does educational opportunity really mean if a child is physically sitting in a classroom but emotionally and intellectually unreached?”

    Central to Thompson’s proposal is a call to embed formal mental health infrastructure into every school across the nation. She argues that the existing legal framework for education already supports this shift: Section 3 of Antigua and Barbuda’s 2008 Education Act lists physical development, personal health and fitness as core objectives of the national education system. Thompson says this principle must be explicitly extended to include psychological and emotional well-being.

    Under her plan, all schools would offer students consistent access to qualified, trained mental health counselors and private, confidential support services for any student in need. “If [the] Education Act calls us to care for the personal health of our students, then that responsibility must not include just the body, but the mind,” she said.

    Beyond mental health, Thompson also called for stronger cross-stakeholder coordination to support student needs, including clear, standardized referral protocols in every school to connect students requiring additional support with appropriate services. This focus on streamlined access extends to students with disabilities, learning differences, and developmental needs, Thompson emphasized, noting that the issue is not just whether support programs exist on paper, but whether they actually reach the young people who need them most.

    Thompson also highlighted ongoing work to elevate student voice in education decision-making, arguing that young people are not passive recipients of education policy, but core stakeholders who have direct insight into what works in classrooms. She pointed to the National Student Council of Antigua and Barbuda as a key platform for student representation, noting that all schools are currently receiving updated constitutions, regulatory frameworks, and training manuals to strengthen student leadership capacity across the country. “If we want to know what is working, we must listen to the people that are actually sitting in the classrooms,” she noted.

    The minister also referenced existing public health initiatives integrated into schools that align with her vision of holistic education, including universal eye screenings for primary and secondary students and updated nutrition standards for food sold and served on campus. These efforts, she said, prove that integrating health into education is already a proven, actionable priority—now it is time to extend that model to mental health.

    Thompson’s address was part of a broader debate in the National Youth Parliament focused on modernizing Antigua and Barbuda’s entire education system. The comprehensive resolution under discussion covers a range of interconnected priorities, from special education access and early intervention services to safeguarding protocols and career guidance, all rooted in the goal of advancing education equity for all young people across the twin-island nation.

  • Antigua and Barbuda Union of Teachers Pays Tribute to Vincent Parker for Lifetime of Advocacy

    Antigua and Barbuda Union of Teachers Pays Tribute to Vincent Parker for Lifetime of Advocacy

    As the Antigua and Barbuda Union of Teachers (A&BUT) marks its 100th year of representing the nation’s educators, the organization has turned its spotlight to honor one of its most transformative figures: veteran educator and lifelong trade union advocate Vincent Parker, known to colleagues and friends simply as VP.

    Widely respected across both education and national labor circles for his unyielding commitment to lifting up working educators, Parker, a former A&BUT president, leaves behind a decades-long legacy of fierce advocacy that shaped the union’s trajectory and secured expanded rights for teaching professionals across the country.

    A&BUT officials highlighted that Parker emerged as a particularly vocal defender of educators’ fundamental right to freedom of association, grounding his activism in the standards laid out by the International Labour Organization’s landmark 1948 Convention No. 87, which protects the right of workers to organize and form independent unions. When the union faced what A&BUT describes as unwarranted government interference in its internal operations and right to organize, Parker leveraged his influence to mobilize hundreds of teachers from Greenbay, Five Islands, Golden Grove and Ottos primary and secondary schools to push back against these overreaches.

    His activism extended across some of the most turbulent decades of Antigua and Barbuda’s labor history, including leadership in pickets, work stoppages and the high-profile “Justice for Teachers” campaign that ran between 1978 and 1979. The A&BUT has already identified the 1977–1979 national teachers’ strike as one of the defining moments of its 100-year existence, a turning point that redefined labor relations for education workers in the country. Throughout these campaigns, Parker and his fellow organizers faced severe state-backed repression: tear gas, physical violence, mass incarceration, and retaliatory job dismissals. Even amid these harsh consequences, Parker never abandoned the campaign for fair treatment and worker autonomy, union leaders recalled.

    Union leaders emphasized that Parker’s persistent leadership laid the groundwork for a more equitable industrial relations framework in Antigua and Barbuda, one that recognizes and protects the rights of not just educators, but all organized workers across the nation. In a formal tribute released by the organization this week, A&BUT emphasized that Parker’s contributions are deeply woven into the fabric of both the nation’s education system and the union’s own identity, and cannot be diminished by the passage of time or overlooked gaps in formal recognition.

    “Vincent Parker was a true advocate for teachers, whose contribution has left an indelible, lasting legacy on our union and our country,” the statement read. “The Antigua and Barbuda Union of Teachers salutes you, Brother Vincent Parker, for being a hero within the crowd.” Parker was already formally recognized earlier this year during the union’s centenary launch events, where he was named among a cohort of former presidents whose sacrifices and vision built the A&BUT into the organization it is today.

  • UWI Vice-Chancellor Urges Antigua and Barbuda Students to Help Solve Caribbean Problems

    UWI Vice-Chancellor Urges Antigua and Barbuda Students to Help Solve Caribbean Problems

    At the 2026 matriculation ceremony for the University of the West Indies’ Five Islands Campus, Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Hilary Beckles delivered a rousing call to new students, urging them to leverage their higher education to tackle the Caribbean’s most intractable social, environmental and structural challenges. These pressing issues include systemic poverty, widespread illiteracy, accelerating climate change, strained public health systems, the ongoing fight for reparatory justice, and growing food insecurity across the region.

    Beyond encouraging personal and professional growth, Beckles pressed incoming students to expand their vision of what a university education can achieve, framing UWI as a unique “activist university” deeply rooted in the mission of advancing Caribbean communities. “It is an activist university, and by this what I mean, it’s a university that is active in the search for solutions to the problems facing the people of the Caribbean and beyond,” he explained to the assembled cohort of new learners.

    Beckles challenged each student to reflect on the most critical barriers holding back their local communities, noting that the issues residents name most often align exactly with the focus areas of UWI’s existing work. The institution already integrates these regional challenges into its teaching curricula, cutting-edge research agendas, and public advocacy initiatives, he confirmed. Rather than positioning themselves as passive recipients of a degree, Beckles invited the incoming class to become active contributors to this mission-driven work.

    “It is only by participating that you can contribute to the solutions of these challenges facing our people,” Beckles said. He emphasized that students must weave their individual pursuit of academic excellence together with a broader responsibility to lift up regional society, reminding the cohort that UWI has long served as a foundational pillar of Caribbean progress. “I ask you to explore the relationship between your personal pursuit of intellectual excellence as well as your contribution to the society beyond your own ecosystem,” he noted. “You are a member of a university which is a pillar of your society.”

    This interplay between personal growth and civic duty, Beckles argued, is key to nurturing innovative, actionable ideas that can address harm in local communities. He urged students to avoid hoarding research insights or solutions, instead encouraging open, robust debate in classrooms, seminars and public spaces to refine ideas and put them to work. “Always seek to ensure that the purpose of research is to find solutions to repair the harm that your society is encountering,” he said.

    A core pillar of this problem-solving work, Beckles stressed, must be a strong commitment to ethical practice. He defined ethics as the moral framework that guides all academic and community work, noting that any pursuit of excellence must strengthen, rather than exploit, the communities that UWI serves. “In your scholarship, in your sporting activity, in your contribution to the creative arts, always remember that the search for excellence is best achieved and sustained within an ethical framework,” he said.

    Opening his address, Beckles extended a warm welcome to all incoming students, highlighting that their arrival brings a vital infusion of fresh perspectives and intellectual energy that will strengthen the entire university. “The UWI will be enriched as a result of your entry and participation,” he said. He also contextualized UWI’s 78-year history as an intergenerational project, built decade by decade through the commitment of successive generations of Caribbean people invested in regional advancement. To close the ceremony, Beckles formally matriculated all new undergraduate degree-seeking students, alongside students admitted to undergraduate diploma and certificate programs who had met all required academic criteria.

  • Star of the Seas brings 7,069 passengers to St. Kitts – WIC News

    Star of the Seas brings 7,069 passengers to St. Kitts – WIC News

    On October 1, 2026, the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis welcomed one of the world’s largest cruise vessels, Royal Caribbean International’s *Star of the Seas*, which brought 7,069 passengers to the island for a day of exploration, marking one of the single largest daily tourism infusions the destination has seen in recent months.

    *Star of the Seas* shares the title of world’s largest cruise ship with its sister vessel, *Icon of the Seas*, which also accompanied the vessel on its journey to St. Kitts, departing from the U.S. Virgin Islands’ St. Thomas prior to arrival. After docking at the island, the vast majority of passengers, along with hundreds of crew members, disembarked to experience all that St. Kitts has to offer, creating a bustling high-demand day for nearly every corner of the island’s tourism sector.

    The primary hub for visitor activity was Port Zante, Basseterre’s integrated cruise port and open-air shopping complex, where thousands of guests began their onshore excursions. Souvenir shopping emerged as one of the most popular early activities, with visitors browsing handcrafted local goods, unique curios, artisanal perfumes, and fine Caribbean jewelry from local vendors.

    Beyond portside shopping, passengers spread across the island to pursue a wide range of activities tailored to every travel style. Many joined organized or private island tours via private taxi or the iconic St. Kitts Scenic Railway, heading to top cultural and natural landmarks including the UNESCO-listed Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, the historic Romney Manor estate famous for its local batik textiles, and the striking volcanic coastal formation Black Rocks.

    Other leisure-seeking visitors opted to spend their day relaxing on St. Kitts’ postcard-perfect white sand beaches, while those interested in urban exploration wandered through the capital city of Basseterre, stopping at iconic landmarks including the Berkeley Memorial at The Circus, the national War Memorial, St. George’s Anglican Church, the Immaculate Conception Co-Cathedral, and Independence Square.

    For more adventurous travelers, the island offered a host of active pursuits: many hiked the cloud-capped peak of Mount Liamuiga, explored coral reefs via snorkeling, or took short sailing trips to the neighboring island of Nevis. Others tested their swing at island golf courses, tried their luck at local casinos, or explored additional retail offerings across Basseterre’s downtown district.

    This diverse mix of cultural, historical, natural, and entertainment offerings ensures there is an experience to match every visitor’s preference, a strength that has helped St. Kitts cement its reputation as a top Caribbean cruise destination. By the end of the day, local bars, restaurants, and food vendors in both Port Zante and downtown Basseterre also reported strong sales, as visitors stopped for meals, tropical drinks, and casual breaks between activities.

    For St. Kitts’ small, tourism-dependent economy, a single call from a mega-cruise ship of this size delivers an immediate, substantial economic boost. Across the entire supply chain of the island’s tourism sector — from taxi drivers and tour guides to craft vendors and hospitality workers — the day-long visit generated significant revenue that will support ongoing growth and development across the nation’s tourism industry.

  • Antigua and Barbuda Inflation Climbs 7% as Housing, Transport and Communication Costs Surge

    Antigua and Barbuda Inflation Climbs 7% as Housing, Transport and Communication Costs Surge

    Antigua and Barbuda’s consumer price level has climbed 7% over the 12-month period ending in September 2026, according to new official data released by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics on Friday. This overall inflation surge was fueled primarily by steep cost increases across communication, housing, and transportation sectors, even as food and non-alcoholic beverage prices trended downward over the course of the year.

    Non-food inflation stood out as the dominant driver of the annual growth in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the nation’s key benchmark for tracking overall price shifts. Among all major spending categories, communication costs posted the most dramatic annual jump, rising 23.1% compared to September 2025. The housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels category followed with a 12.6% annual increase, while transportation costs rose 12% year-over-year.

    A closer look at transportation data reveals that air travel costs are a major contributor to the sector’s growth: the overall Transport Services Index surged 25.5% over 12 months, pushed largely by a 29.7% spike in passenger air transportation costs. For consumers relying on personal vehicles, operating costs also rose 6.1%, with the statistics division linking part of this increase to a rise in pump prices for gasoline, which climbed from $14.50 to $16.50 per gallon over the period. Actual housing rentals also outpaced baseline inflation, growing 8.9% compared to the prior year.

    Against these broad price increases, consumers saw welcome relief at grocery stores and other food retailers. The Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages Index fell 1% year-over-year, with the standalone Food Index dropping an even steeper 1.5%. Lower prices for vegetables and meat products were the main factors pulling the category down. Vegetable prices overall declined 10.4%, with all three vegetable subcategories recording an average 11.1% drop. Fresh or chilled potatoes saw the largest decrease at 13%, while frozen, preserved or processed vegetable products fell 10.8%. For meat and meat products, prices dropped 3.8% overall, with pork prices posting a particularly sharp 15.8% decline, and other meats and edible offal falling 8.9%.

    When volatile food and energy prices are excluded from calculations, core inflation still came in at 7.5% over the 12-month period. This figure signals that broad inflationary pressures are not limited to the most volatile market segments, but have extended throughout the nation’s economy.

    On a monthly basis, the overall CPI also rose 1.1% in September 2026 alone, even as food and non-alcoholic beverage prices fell 1.1% over the month. Fish and seafood prices posted a substantial monthly decline of 13.8%, with fresh, chilled or frozen fish and seafood dropping 18.2%, and preserved or processed fish and seafood falling 11.7%. Vegetable prices also fell 4.5% in September: fresh and chilled vegetables dropped 5.7%, while frozen, preserved or processed varieties fell 4.4%. The statistics office noted that the relatively large market weight of these categories helped pull overall food prices lower for the month.

    Energy costs, however, moved sharply higher in September. The overall Energy Index rose 4.6% driven by the $2 per gallon increase in gasoline prices, with the bureau recording a 13.8% monthly increase in gasoline costs.

  • What Caribbean Youth Voices Taught Us About Meaningful Engagement

    What Caribbean Youth Voices Taught Us About Meaningful Engagement

    The concept of meaningful youth engagement in decisions that shape public health and individual lives has long been reduced to hollow buzzwords in many global policy circles. Too often, “engagement” is simplified to token gestures: a single survey, an optional public consultation, or one youth seat at a crowded decision-making table. These formal checks of participation do not address the deeper, more transformative goal of empowerment: helping young people understand local policy processes, recognize their stake in national outcomes, and contribute authentically to choices that will define their futures. For regions grappling with a legacy of systemic exclusion, this gap between token participation and meaningful engagement is even more stark.

    In the Caribbean, the conversation about youth participation carries unique historical weight. For centuries, external colonial powers controlled nearly all decisions affecting Caribbean societies, establishing a long-standing hierarchy that centered external knowledge, dismissed local voices, and framed Caribbean communities as followers rather than decision-makers. While formal independence restructured political authority across the region, it did not automatically erase the deep-seated norms that exclude marginalized groups — including young people and people living with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) — from health governance. Decades after independence, questions about whose input counts, whose expertise is legitimized, and who gets to shape health policy remain central to advancing equitable health outcomes across CARICOM nations.

    Against this historical backdrop, the Healthy Caribbean Coalition (HCC), backed by funding from the Commonwealth Foundation, launched a groundbreaking regional initiative called “Caribbean Youth Voices, Healthy Caribbean Futures.” The project’s core mission is to build a framework for authentic, meaningful youth engagement in health decision-making across CARICOM, with a specific focus on including young people living with NCDs — a group disproportionately affected by regional health challenges but routinely sidelined from policy design.

    Rather than rolling out a top-down policy blueprint, the initiative began with a foundational act of listening. Over the course of its research phase, the HCC conducted in-depth stakeholder interviews, community youth consultations, and a comprehensive review of existing scholarship to map what meaningful engagement actually looks like in Caribbean contexts, identify the systemic and cultural barriers that block youth participation, and document the resources young people and policymakers need to enable collaborative decision-making. The process drew input from young people, public health advocates, people living with NCDs, civil society leaders, and government policymakers from 12 different Caribbean nations, ensuring the framework was rooted in on-the-ground experience rather than abstract global theory.

    This diverse, community-led input formed the backbone of the *Guidance on Meaningful Engagement of Youth, Including Young People Living with NCDs in Health Decision-Making across CARICOM*, which was officially launched in July 2026. The guidance establishes a shared regional definition of authentic engagement, breaks down the most common barriers to inclusive participation, outlines the systemic conditions that enable meaningful youth input, and provides practical, actionable tools for policymakers to assess their current readiness for inclusive practice and implement a spectrum of participation models — from early public consultation to full youth leadership of policy working groups.

    To complement the formal guidance, the HCC also developed the Caribbean Youth Voices Handbook and a series of targeted capacity-building training programs across the region. Co-created with young people to address their specific needs, the handbook equips young advocates with clear, accessible guidance to navigate complex health policy spaces and assert their expertise effectively. In-person capacity-building workshops were held in Barbados and Saint Lucia in April 2026, followed by a regional virtual training open to participants across all CARICOM nations in May 2026. During these sessions, attendees built core skills in advocacy, collaborative leadership, personal storytelling for policy change, strategic communications, and health policy engagement, while also forming cross-border professional networks to support ongoing regional collaboration.

    After months of research, co-creation, and capacity-building, the initiative has produced key insights that challenge common assumptions about youth engagement. Project lead and HCC Advocacy Officer Jenée Farrell emphasizes that meaningful engagement cannot be achieved through a one-off intervention — whether it is a single consultation, a single training, or one youth representative at a policy table. Instead, it is an ongoing iterative process that requires intentional listening, pre-process preparation for both young people and established policymakers, consistent access to decision-making spaces, relationship-building across generations and sectors, and formal accountability mechanisms to track how youth input shapes final outcomes.

    The initiative confirms that young people are already eager and able to build the confidence, expertise, and advocacy skills needed to contribute to health policy. However, individual skill-building alone cannot create meaningful change: established decision-making spaces must also be willing to adapt to meet young people halfway. Policymakers and institutional leaders bear responsibility for proactively sharing clear, accessible information about policy processes, being transparent about which outcomes are open to youth input, centering diverse forms of lived and local expertise, and reporting back to young people on how their input has shaped final decisions.

    As the initiative makes clear, the core question facing Caribbean health governance today is not whether young people have valuable perspectives to contribute — they unquestionably do. Instead, the critical question is whether established institutional decision-making spaces are ready to recognize the expertise that young people bring to the table, take their participation seriously, and allow their input to reshape policy outcomes. The Caribbean Youth Voices project does not just aim to help stakeholders invite young people into decision-making rooms — it seeks to transform those rooms to make young people’s presence truly meaningful, creating a more equitable and effective health governance system for current and future generations across the Caribbean.

  • Nieuwe leningen van honderden miljoenen dollars in voorbereiding

    Nieuwe leningen van honderden miljoenen dollars in voorbereiding

    Suriname’s government is moving forward with plans to secure hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars in new domestic and foreign loans, according to the recently published 2027 National State Debt Plan. The planned financing is earmarked to cover a projected SRD 10.8 billion budget deficit next year, with allocated funds targeted at critical public sectors including education, cross-border infrastructure, waste management, and general budget support. The plan also outlines how much remaining funding the country can draw down from pre-existing international loan agreements in 2027.

    The document divides available financing into two clear categories: undisbursed funds from already approved existing loans, and new financing that remains in the preparation pipeline. For 2027, a maximum of $195.7 million can still be withdrawn from active foreign project and program loans, the plan confirms. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) holds the largest share of this remaining funding, with $139.6 million still available for disbursement. Other lenders contributing to this total include the Islamic Development Bank with $21.2 million, the OPEC Fund for International Development with $13 million, France’s development agency AFD with $8 million, and the Saudi Fund for Development with $5.3 million.

    As of the end of June 2026, the total undisbursed balance across all existing foreign loans stood at $520.7 million. However, all these funds are tied to specific pre-approved projects and programs, meaning they cannot be reallocated to other unplanned uses without formal amendments to the original agreements.

    Beyond existing funding, the 2027 plan lists $559 million in new foreign loans that are currently in the pipeline, at various stages of preparation or application. Unlike the already approved funding, these new loans are not guaranteed to be fully disbursed within 2027, with many spread across multiple years of drawdowns.

    Among the proposed new foreign financing, $40 million from the IDB is earmarked to support and accelerate priority reforms to Suriname’s national education system. A $250 million Amazonia Bond, arranged in partnership between the IDB and Enosis, is still in the conceptual phase, according to the plan. A $239 million financing package from China, earmarked for the construction of a cross-border bridge connecting Suriname and Guyana, is officially listed as “in preparation.” Additionally, Suriname has applied for a $30 million loan from AFD to upgrade the country’s national waste management systems.

    On the domestic financing front, the government has also planned $291.5 million in new domestic loans that are in preparation. The largest portion of this domestic funding, $230.9 million, is earmarked as general budget support arranged through local commercial banks. Other planned domestic financing supports national infrastructure projects: $50.3 million is slated for the National Infrastructure Program through Kuldipsingh, while $10.3 million is earmarked for the Monkshoop project and broader National Infrastructure Program through Tjongalanga. Smaller amounts are also listed to cover outstanding debts to domestic entities including LHB, Caremco, and Chotelal.

    The 2027 State Debt Plan explicitly notes that not all pipeline financing has been finalized, and disbursement for project and program loans is often spread across multiple calendar years. For this reason, the total listed pipeline amounts should not be interpreted as full new debt that will be fully contracted or disbursed in 2027 alone.

    Suriname’s current debt-to-GDP ratio remains far above the original statutory ceiling of 60%, a context that shapes the government’s 2027 financing framework. As of the end of June 2026, the country’s statutory debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 119.6%, according to the plan. An amendment to the State Debt Act passed in October 2025 allows for temporary exceeding of the debt ceiling through December 31, 2027, to let the government enter new debt obligations to cover its financing needs.

    Alongside its immediate borrowing plans, the Surinamese government has outlined a longer-term goal to expand and deepen the local capital market. The policy objective is to gradually meet a larger share of future financing needs through domestic borrowing, which will reduce the country’s exposure to foreign exchange risk in its overall national debt portfolio.

  • Youth Parliament Unanimously Passes Resolution Calling for Modernisation of Antigua and Barbuda’s Education System

    Youth Parliament Unanimously Passes Resolution Calling for Modernisation of Antigua and Barbuda’s Education System

    In a landmark Friday sitting that highlighted youth-led advocacy for educational progress, all 14 voting members of Antigua and Barbuda’s National Youth Parliament have thrown their full support behind an ambitious, wide-ranging resolution focused on the continuous modernization, strengthening, and inclusive expansion of the nation’s education system.

    The push for this resolution originated from a formal decision adopted at the 2026 General Assembly of the National Youth Parliament Association of Antigua and Barbuda, and was formally introduced to the chamber by Youth Prime Minister Jawan Jackson, who presented the full text of the proposal to assembled members. Ahead of the vote, delegates engaged in a robust, far-reaching debate that touched on nearly every corner of the national education ecosystem: from aging school infrastructure and gaps in teacher staffing to special education accessibility, student mental health support, digital integration, artificial intelligence preparedness, vocational skills training, campus safety, and equitable access to post-secondary education.

    The carefully crafted resolution frames education modernization not as a rejection of existing frameworks or past progress, but as a necessary, proactive response to shifting global and local conditions. It explicitly recognizes the 2008 Education Act No. 21 as the foundational legislative guide for the nation’s education sector, and clarifies that calls for updates do not mean the current system is obsolete, nor that earlier reform efforts have failed. Instead, the document argues that education laws, policies, and administrative structures require regular, thoughtful review to keep pace with evolving technology, changing labor market demands, shifting institutional priorities, and the growing diversity of student needs. It also acknowledges the significant investments the national government has already made in tertiary education, technical and vocational training, school infrastructure, and student support services, emphasizing that future reforms should build on these existing gains rather than starting from scratch.

    At its core, the resolution centers on advancing educational equity as a non-negotiable goal. It argues that meaningful access to quality education extends far beyond simply granting students admission to a school; it requires guaranteed access to qualified, trained educators, up-to-date learning resources, targeted support services, diverse course offerings, and clear pathways that connect secondary education to further study, skilled employment, and economic opportunity. The document also calls for a fundamental shift in how educational success is measured, arguing that the system must center the diverse abilities, interests, and needs of young people by expanding credible pathways in academia, technical skills, vocational trades, professional fields, and entrepreneurship, rather than tying success to a single, one-size-fits-all educational model.

    A key priority highlighted in the resolution is expanding inclusive support for marginalized student groups. It calls out specific attention to students living with disabilities, students on the autism spectrum, students with learning differences, and other students with unique educational needs, arguing that these learners require targeted accommodations, specially trained staff, and accessible support services to turn the formal goal of inclusive education into tangible, on-the-ground practice rather than leaving it as an unfulfilled policy statement.

    Beyond accessibility and equity, the resolution identifies student well-being as a critical pillar of a 21st-century education system. It names on-campus mental health counselling, career guidance, student safeguarding, and early intervention for at-risk youth as increasingly essential components of any system that aims to prepare young people for responsible adulthood and productive, meaningful participation in national society.

    In a nod to fiscal responsibility, the resolution also mandates that all proposed reforms be properly costed, aligned with the nation’s budget constraints, and implemented in a way that does not weaken funding for other essential public services or place an unfair, unnecessary tax burden on Antigua and Barbuda’s residents.

    Addressing the youth chamber ahead of the vote, Jackson explained that the resolution was designed to be intentionally comprehensive to capture the full scope of changes needed, stressing that the process of modernization and the implementation of reforms must move forward in tandem. He also called for the statutory Education Review Committee, established under the existing Education Act, to expand its mandate and take a more active role in ongoing system assessments, covering everything from physical campus conditions and curriculum relevance to student learning outcomes, education service delivery, and the status of the national teaching workforce.

    After the conclusion of the debate, National Youth Parliament Speaker Ezekiel Francois read the key operative clauses of the resolution aloud before bringing it to a formal vote. In a procedural move requested by Jackson, a division was called, requiring each member’s vote to be recorded individually. When the ballots were counted, the result was unanimous: 14 votes in favor, with no votes cast against the proposal.

    “Based off of that vote, this resolution would stand passed at the vote of 14 ayes, so all the House would have approved it,” Francois declared, before formally confirming that the resolution calling for the continued modernization, strengthening, and inclusive development of Antigua and Barbuda’s education system had been officially adopted by the National Youth Parliament.

  • Luke suggests petitions might have been filed even if he was elected (+video)

    Luke suggests petitions might have been filed even if he was elected (+video)

    As the high-stakes election challenge trial over dual citizenship continued at the Kingstown High Court this week, two connected legal disputes brought by defeated opposition candidates have wrapped up their evidentiary phase, setting the stage for a critical next phase of judicial proceedings that could carry lasting implications for electoral law across the Caribbean.

    The two linked petitions stem from the November 2025 general election in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where the New Democratic Party (NDP) secured a landslide victory, claiming 14 of the 15 available parliamentary seats. The challenges are led by Luke Browne, a candidate from the Unity Labour Party (ULP) who lost his fourth consecutive bid for the East Kingstown parliamentary seat, and Agustus Carlos Williams, the ULP candidate who failed to unseat Prime Minister Godwin Friday in the Northern Grenadines constituency.

    Both petitioners argue that Prime Minister Friday and East Kingstown MP Dwight Fitzgerald Bramble — the respondents in the cases — are ineligible to hold parliamentary office because they hold dual citizenship of St. Vincent and Grenadines and Canada. They are also challenging the actions of returning officers, the national Supervisor of Elections, and the attorney general, who is named as a respondent in line with standard procedure for electoral disputes of this kind.

    On Thursday, the final day of the evidentiary phase, several NDP supporters from East Kingstown took the stand for cross-examination. Questioning centered on the witnesses’ partisan affiliations, their personal connections to petitioner Browne and respondent Bramble, and how much prior knowledge they had of the dual citizenship status held by both Bramble and Prime Minister Friday. In total, the legal team representing the respondents called 21 witnesses over the course of the evidence-gathering phase, which concluded the same day.

    Following the close of proceedings, Justice Gertel Thom issued a clear timeline for the next steps: all legal teams must submit formal written legal submissions to the court by November 4, with oral arguments scheduled to be heard before the court on November 10. The justice also ordered both sides to prepare separate documents outlining agreed-upon facts and disputed facts, to streamline her judicial review.

    Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse after Thursday’s adjournment, Browne pushed back against widespread social media speculation that the ULP would never have pursued this legal challenge if the NDP had lost the general election. He argued that claims of partisan double standards are unfair, noting that the ULP launched a comprehensive public awareness campaign about the dual citizenship issue long before election day.
    Browne also addressed public observations that he and Williams appeared to smile during cross-examination of the respondents’ witnesses, clarifying that the expression was not a sign of amusement. He emphasized that the legal team views the case as a deeply serious constitutional matter, and their calm demeanor reflects confidence in their legal position, not disregard for the proceedings.

    Browne stressed that the case carries ramifications far beyond St. Vincent and the Grenadines, noting that it will bring critical clarity to electoral law that will shape political practice across the Caribbean and beyond. He described the week of court proceedings as successful, saying, “We have had a well-organised case from the earliest sitting, and we are looking forward to the next phase of this consequential process.”

    Responding to questions about what would have happened if the NDP had lost the election, Browne noted that any counterfactual is purely speculative. He added that if he had personally won the East Kingstown seat, the challenge to Bramble’s nomination would be moot, but that does not mean the ULP would have dropped broader legal action over dual citizenship eligibility.

    Stuart Young, the lead senior counsel for the petitioners, echoed Browne’s confidence in the case. While he declined to elaborate on specific details of new evidence that emerged during cross-examination or speculate on potential post-ruling consequences, Young described the week’s cross-examination of respondents’ witnesses as near-perfect from the petitioners’ perspective. “From the petitioner’s point of view, we could not have asked for a better week with our cross-examination… We feel very, very confident from an evidence point of view,” he told reporters, adding that any rulings on consequences of a successful petitioner challenge would be left entirely to Justice Thom.

    NDP and government officials have rejected the challenges outright, framing them as baseless partisan attacks. Prime Minister Friday dismissed the petitions as nothing more than “sour grapes and sore losers” from a defeated opposition. Anand Ramlogan, the lead senior counsel for the respondents, backed up the prime minister’s remarks, characterizing the ULP’s legal action as disingenuous and anti-democratic.

    Friday and Bramble have long maintained that their dual citizenship is fully permitted under the Constitution of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and they have rejected claims of ineligibility. Friday has served as a Member of Parliament since 2001, while Bramble won his first term in East Kingstown in 2020 and was re-elected for a second five-year term in the 2025 vote. In the election, Friday secured 2,185 votes to Williams’ 332, with 11 rejected ballots, resulting in Williams losing his electoral deposit. Bramble won re-election with 2,728 votes to Browne’s 1,727, with 19 rejected ballots.