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  • EU-funded $3.2m Bequia fish market rebuild launched

    EU-funded $3.2m Bequia fish market rebuild launched

    The Caribbean island nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines has broken ground on a transformative EC$3.285 million (approximately €600,000) infrastructure project that aims to replace the aging 30-year-old Bequia Fish Market with a modern, climate-resilient facility. Positioned as a cornerstone of the country’s growing blue economy strategy, the redevelopment is being fully financed by a grant from the European Union under the Biodiversity Support Programme for ACP and Coastal Environments (known as the Biospace Project), with the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission overseeing implementation. Local Vincentian firm Hutchinson Construction Company Ltd. has been tapped as the lead contractor for the works, which are already progressing at the Port Elizabeth waterfront site.

    Speaking at the project’s official launch ceremony, Prime Minister Godwin Friday — who also serves as the Member of Parliament for the Northern Grenadines constituency that includes Bequia — emphasized that the initiative represents far more than a simple infrastructure replacement. It signals the current administration’s unwavering commitment to elevating fisheries and the blue economy to a central role in the country’s long-term economic growth plan. “If the fishing sector, the blue economy, does not succeed, it makes it difficult for us as an administration to succeed,” Friday stated, noting that the EU grant was secured by the previous government but is being accelerated under his administration, with a target completion timeline of seven to eight months and a planned public opening by mid-2025.

    In a post-ceremony media interview, the prime minister highlighted the unique value of the grant funding, reminding stakeholders in the local Vincentian dialect that “a grant means you doh ha’ to pay it back.” He added that large-scale EU development projects have become increasingly rare across the Caribbean region, making it critical that this new facility is “built to last” and supported by consistent long-term maintenance.

    Lorenzo George, the country’s lead Fisheries Officer, laid out the detailed technical scope of the new development. The project will deliver a two-storey, 2,856-square-foot facility purpose-built to support modern fish handling, processing and administrative operations. The ground floor will be dedicated to core industry needs, housing a dedicated fish processing and cleaning zone, commercial freezer and chiller capacity, an industrial ice machine, a fish supply retail shop and primary on-site office space. The first floor will accommodate a full administrative office, a multi-purpose conference room and gender-segregated public restrooms.

    To meet the project’s climate resilience goals, the new structure will be built with reinforced concrete for all foundations, columns, beams, roof slabs and structural elements, paired with corrosion-resistant stainless steel windows and marine-grade exterior doors built to withstand harsh coastal conditions. The facility will also feature upgraded plumbing and electrical systems, as well as integrated on-site water storage and rainwater harvesting infrastructure to boost self-sufficiency. George noted that the final design was developed following extensive consultations with local Bequia fishers and other industry stakeholders to ensure the facility meets all their practical needs.

    Richard Hutchinson, Managing Director of lead contractor Hutchinson Construction, reported that works commenced on 18 June, and the project is already roughly 70% complete on foundational works, despite significant on-site challenges. The waterfront location was historically used as an informal garbage dump, requiring crews to excavate and remove large volumes of compacted waste, abandoned old machinery, electrical debris and decomposed organic material before importing and compacting engineered fill to create a stable base for the new structure. A second major challenge has been regular seawater intrusion during high tide, which forces crews to pump out the work site two to three times daily — including overnight shifts in the early morning — to prevent saltwater contamination of the structural concrete.

    To boost long-term durability, the project uses high-strength C30 concrete for all foundational elements, and structurally sound portions of the original 12-inch thick concrete slab have been integrated into the new design to improve base stability and extend the facility’s overall lifespan. “That alone can tell you that down the road from 30 or 40 or 50 years, our construction footing should remain steady and strong,” Hutchinson said, adding that the team’s goal is to deliver a facility that will serve both the local fishing community and the broader coastal environment for generations.

    Conroy Huggins, Minister of Fisheries, Marine and Land Conservation and Climate Resilience, framed the Bequia project as part of a broader government policy shift to reposition fisheries as a standalone core economic pillar, rather than a secondary adjunct to the agriculture sector. Huggins explained that while the fishing industry was a well-established economic driver 30 to 35 years ago, it has fallen into neglect in recent decades. One of the first actions of the current administration was to create an independent Ministry of Fisheries, a change he said reflects the sector’s outsize importance to the national economy.

    The ministry’s recent national assessment found that all nine existing fisheries centres across Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are in need of major restoration or rehabilitation work. The Bequia redevelopment is the flagship of a nationwide upgrade program that also includes active works at three other key facilities: rehabilitation at the Chateaubelair Fisheries Centre, which began in June and is on track for completion by late 2026 or early 2027; refurbishment of the administrative complex and replacement of outdated equipment at the Kingstown Fish Market; and ongoing planning to reactivate the large, long-underutilised fisheries facility at Owia, which the prime minister has named a top priority.

    Huggins confirmed that structural works on the Bequia Fish Market are expected to be finished by the first quarter of 2025, with full operational launch targeted for June 2025. “What is taking place here today is just in line with the government’s vision for the development and the expansion of the fishery sector and the development of the blue economy as an economic pillar,” he said. The current administration has formally outlined four core economic pillars for national development: agriculture; fisheries and the blue economy; tourism; and a “new economy” encompassing sports, culture, creative industries and information and communications technology.

  • LETTER: Abused Mother Appeals to PM Browne for Housing Programme for Women Fleeing Abuse

    LETTER: Abused Mother Appeals to PM Browne for Housing Programme for Women Fleeing Abuse

    Dated August 30, 2026, an open, anonymous letter addressed to Prime Minister Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda has thrown a harsh spotlight on the hidden crisis facing domestic violence survivors across the nation: a crippling lack of affordable, safe housing options for women and children escaping abusive relationships.

    Writing under anonymity to protect herself and her young daughter from further harm, the author, a mother who marks one year of marriage this August, shares the agonizing reality that has become her daily life. She entered her partnership with the quiet hope of building a stable home and future, only to find herself trapped in an unsafe relationship with no clear path out. Leaving abuse, she explains, is rarely as simple as packing a bag and walking away. For many women, systemic barriers turn escape into an impossible choice: stay in a dangerous home, or face homelessness.

    After taking the difficult legal step of securing a restraining order against her abuser, the author was forced out of the family home. Instead of receiving support, she has been publicly maligned as a villain and a liar for speaking out about her experiences. What haunts her most is the inability to give her young daughter the safe upbringing she deserves. She refuses to let her daughter grow up believing that safety is a secondary privilege to having a roof over one’s head, or that women are meant to endure mistreatment when they have nowhere else to turn. Right now, she cannot afford the cost of starting over, leaving her at risk of being forced back into the violent situation she worked so hard to escape.

    The author stresses that her experience is not unique. Across Antigua and Barbuda, hundreds of women are stuck in the same impossible trap: they have packed their bags, coordinated their children’s belongings, reached out to contacts for temporary shelter, only to stare down sky-high rental prices they cannot afford. With no other options, they return to their abusers—not because the abuse has gotten better, but because they have nowhere else to go.

    While the author commends the Antigua and Barbuda government for already moving forward with plans to establish a national safe haven shelter for survivors of domestic violence, she is calling for urgent additional action: the creation of a comprehensive, government-backed emergency and transitional housing program. Current shelter infrastructure, she argues, only solves part of the problem. What happens when a woman’s time in emergency shelter ends, but she still cannot afford private market rent? What happens to mothers with no family home to return to, or survivors who have secured legal protection but remain trapped by financial instability?

    There must be a middle ground between an abusive home and homelessness, the author argues. She outlines a clear vision for the program: it would provide safe, subsidized transitional apartments or rooms for survivors and their children, cover rental deposits, and offer a clear pathway to permanent, independent housing. Even a small, modest program would be life-changing for countless women, she notes. Survivors do not need to be rescued—they just need a safe door to walk through to build their new lives.

    The author shares that she has struggled with overwhelming emotional despair, to the point of questioning whether life is worth continuing. But she emphasizes that she does not want to die—she wants to live, to raise her daughter, to work and provide for her child, and to build a life free of fear. She refuses to become another statistic of domestic violence, and dreams of one day telling her daughter that even when life was terrifying, she found the courage to escape and build something better.

    She is not asking for special treatment or luxury housing, only a modest, affordable, safe space where she can breathe, rebuild, and work toward independence. Closing her letter, she urges Prime Minister Browne to act urgently for all women currently trapped in her position: women with children, little to no savings, no family to turn to, and no safe place to sleep if they leave their abusers.

    “That sentence could save a life,” she writes of the message a transitional housing program would send: You do not have to go back. There is somewhere safe for you and your children. A program like this would not just save the lives of adult survivors—it would save childhoods, give women the courage to leave, and teach the next generation that home is supposed to be a place of safety, not fear.

    Even if she cannot escape her own situation, the author writes, she hopes her plea will create change for the next woman facing this crisis. “Don’t let a lack of affordable housing become the reason another woman stays somewhere that is destroying her,” she writes. “Give us somewhere to go. Give us a chance to start again.”

  • Antigua and Barbuda to Protect Agricultural Lands Through Farm Trust

    Antigua and Barbuda to Protect Agricultural Lands Through Farm Trust

    The twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda has announced a landmark initiative to preserve its limited but ecologically and economically critical agricultural territory through the establishment of a dedicated farm trust. Facing growing pressure from coastal development, climate-driven coastal erosion, and unregulated land conversion that has steadily reduced available farmland over the past two decades, government officials have framed the trust as a long-term solution to protect the country’s food security and support small-scale local producers.

    Under the new framework, the trust will acquire at-risk agricultural parcels, hold them in permanent public ownership, and lease them to qualified local farmers at below-market rates. This model is designed to prevent speculative land buying that drives up prices and pushes working farmers off their land, while also ensuring that greenfield agricultural spaces are never converted to non-farming uses such as luxury resort development or residential construction.

    Agriculture ministry representatives note that Antigua and Barbuda currently imports more than 70% of its food supply, a dependency that leaves the nation vulnerable to global supply chain disruptions and volatile international commodity prices. By protecting existing farmland and expanding access for new and emerging farmers, the government aims to boost domestic food production, cut import bills, and create new livelihood opportunities in rural communities.

    The initiative also incorporates environmental protections: the trust will require participating farmers to adopt climate-smart agricultural practices, including soil conservation, rainwater harvesting, and reduced synthetic pesticide use, to help mitigate the impact of droughts and hurricanes that are increasingly frequent in the Caribbean region. Funding for the initial phase of the project is being supported by a regional climate adaptation grant from the Caribbean Development Bank, with plans to expand the trust’s land holdings through public-private partnerships in coming years.

  • PM Browne Calls for Workplace Childcare Support for Single Parents

    PM Browne Calls for Workplace Childcare Support for Single Parents

    Against a backdrop of growing public concern over the accessibility and affordability of childcare across Antigua and Barbuda, Prime Minister Gaston Browne has publicly urged the national government and large private sector employers to prioritize the development of on-site childcare services. The proposal, aimed at easing the disproportionate burden carried by single parents and workers without access to reliable family care, was shared during the June 15 broadcast of the *Browne and Browne Show* on local outlet Pointe FM, where Browne responded to a listener-submitted complaint about a working parent facing disciplinary action.

    According to the complaint shared during the program, a female employee at a state-run statutory corporation, based in eastern Antigua, has repeatedly brought her children into the workplace during school vacation periods. With no affordable or trusted alternative childcare arrangements available, the employee brings her children to work where they remain quiet and do not disrupt daily operations. Even so, the employee’s supervisor has threatened to issue formal verbal and written warnings for the violation of workplace policy, sparking public debate over employer support for working parents.

    Browne pushed back against the supervisor’s approach in his comments, questioning why a working parent should face professional penalties when their children are properly supervised and create no disruption for other team members. He argued that systemic gaps in local childcare infrastructure have left many parents between a rock and a hard place, forcing them to choose between keeping their job and ensuring their children are safe.

    “Large employers who can afford a little crèche — and even the government itself — we have to do something to help parents,” Browne stated during the interview.

    The prime minister went on to outline the shifting demographic context that has eroded the traditional informal childcare systems many Antigua and Barbuda residents once relied on. Today, a large share of the country’s population is made up of immigrants who have settled in the nation, many of whom do not have extended family members such as grandparents or adult siblings living locally to help with childcare. Even immigrant workers who have lived in the country for decades and obtained citizenship still lack this informal family safety net, leaving many working parents, especially single parents, with no affordable care options during school breaks or after regular school hours.

    “You have single parents; some of them have no support,” he added.

    Browne’s proposal calls on large private businesses, statutory corporations, and government agencies to explore two pathways to support working parents: creating dedicated on-site crèche facilities for employees’ children, and adopting flexible policies that allow parents to bring children to work in appropriate circumstances when no other care is available. He emphasized that allowing children to stay with a parent at work in these scenarios is far safer than forcing parents to leave children home alone or in the care of unvetted, unsuitable caregivers.

    “If the children are not a hindrance to anyone, what’s the issue?” Browne asked.

    While the prime minister’s remarks have been welcomed by advocacy groups supporting working parents, he stopped short of announcing a binding formal government policy, naming specific workplaces that will introduce on-site crèches, or releasing a timeline for rolling out new childcare support services. Instead, his comments frame a broad public call for both public and large private sector employers to examine practical, targeted solutions that help workers balance professional responsibilities and childcare needs amid ongoing national conversations about working parent support.

  • Trinidad en Jamaica willen onderlinge handel en investeringen opvoeren

    Trinidad en Jamaica willen onderlinge handel en investeringen opvoeren

    Two of the Caribbean Community (Caricom)’s largest economies, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, have announced plans to deepen bilateral economic cooperation and encourage greater cross-regional business activity, aligning with longstanding regional calls to boost intra-Caribbean trade.

    Deborah Thomas-Felix, Trinidad and Tobago’s High Commissioner to Jamaica, has outlined a roadmap for closer ties centered on increasing targeted trade missions, attracting mutual investment, and facilitating direct connections between entrepreneurs from both nations. The push for collaboration builds on tangible progress in bilateral trade relations in recent years, after decades of recurring disputes centered on market access for Jamaican goods in Trinidad and Tobago. In 2022, the two countries implemented a streamlined dispute resolution mechanism designed to accelerate the handling of trade complaints, laying the groundwork for improved relations.

    Despite this progress, official trade data for 2024 reveals a significant imbalance in bilateral goods exchange. Jamaica exported just US$36.6 million worth of goods to Trinidad and Tobago last year, while importing roughly US$249.7 million in Trinidadian and Tobagonian goods – meaning Jamaica’s imports from its neighbor are nearly seven times the value of its exports to the country.

    Thomas-Felix argues that this imbalance is not an inherently negative issue, but rather a reflection of the two economies’ complementary structural strengths. Trinidad and Tobago has long held a robust competitive advantage in manufacturing and energy production, which has positioned it as a leading goods exporter across the Caribbean. Jamaica, by contrast, has built strong market positions in high-value sectors including tourism, financial services, professional services, and digital services.

    The diplomat also noted that Jamaica has already made significant gains in expanding its presence in the Trinidadian and Tobagonian market, with official projections showing Jamaican exports to the country growing by roughly 170% between 2019 and 2025. To sustain this momentum, both sides have already organized a series of reciprocal trade missions in recent years. In May 2025, a delegation from the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association traveled to Jamaica to explore new distribution and investment opportunities, while Jamaican business groups have conducted reciprocal visits to Trinidad and Tobago.

    This bilateral push for deeper integration fits into a broader ongoing policy debate across Caricom, which created the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) decades ago to facilitate the free movement of goods, services, capital and labor across member states. Despite this framework, most Caricom economies remain heavily reliant on trade with countries outside the Caribbean region.

    Trinidad and Tobago has long advocated for deeper regional integration, arguing that expanded intra-Caricom trade will give small and medium-sized enterprises from across the bloc access to a larger combined market. For Jamaica, expanding goods exports remains a core national economic priority: 2024 data shows Jamaica’s total goods imports reached US$7.29 billion, while total goods exports hit only US$1.91 billion, with Trinidad and Tobago accounting for 3.4% of Jamaica’s total goods imports last year.

    Thomas-Felix emphasized that Caribbean nations should shift their focus away from fixating on bilateral trade deficits and surpluses, and instead prioritize collaborative efforts to strengthen the region’s collective economic position and open up larger markets for all domestic businesses. She stressed that complementary strengths across different sectors – from Jamaica’s world-class services to Trinidad and Tobago’s energy and manufacturing capacity – create unique opportunities for mutual growth.

    The High Commissioner called for trade missions to move beyond symbolic visits and discussions, and work toward building long-term sustainable partnerships between entrepreneurs, investors, and private sector organizations across both countries. The ultimate goal of this cooperation is to grow the overall volume of economic activity generated within the Caribbean region. This remains a persistent challenge for Caricom: after decades of integration efforts, most of the bloc’s total trade still consists of imports from outside the region, even as member states work to expand domestic production, strengthen food security, and build out robust regional value chains.

  • Antigua and Barbuda Government Plans Food Emporium and Two Abattoirs

    Antigua and Barbuda Government Plans Food Emporium and Two Abattoirs

    The government of Antigua and Barbuda has formally announced a strategic infrastructure initiative aimed at strengthening the nation’s domestic food production network and reducing long-standing reliance on imported food products. At the core of this project are two key components: a centralized, modern food emporium designed to connect local farmers, processors, and vendors directly to consumers, and two purpose-built abattoirs that will be constructed to serve the country’s northern and southern agricultural regions.

    According to government officials, the new facilities are intended to address multiple longstanding challenges facing the twin-island nation’s food sector. For years, small-scale livestock farmers have lacked access to regulated, sanitary slaughtering infrastructure, forcing many to either operate outside formal safety standards or pay exorbitant fees for private processing. The two new abattoirs will bring operations into compliance with international food safety guidelines, opening new opportunities for local producers to sell their products both domestically and potentially in regional export markets.

    The centralized food emporium, meanwhile, will function as a one-stop hub for fresh, locally sourced produce, meat, and processed food goods. It will cut out middleman markup that has driven up food costs for consumers, while giving local producers a dedicated, high-traffic space to showcase their goods. Government planners note that the project aligns with the administration’s broader national food security agenda, which was accelerated after global supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of the nation’s heavy dependence on imported food.

    Pre-construction feasibility studies and site assessments are already underway, with government representatives indicating that construction on the facilities is expected to begin within the next 12 months. Funding for the project is being drawn from a combination of national development budgets and targeted regional agricultural development grants. Once completed, the initiative is projected to create dozens of full-time jobs in the agricultural, processing, and retail sectors, while lowering average food costs for households across Antigua and Barbuda.

  • Simmons puts police discipline under the spotlight

    Simmons puts police discipline under the spotlight

    As the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF) ramps up its aggressive, intelligence-led campaign to curb a rising tide of gun violence across the island nation, its acting Deputy Commissioner Junior Simmons is placing internal discipline at the forefront of the force’s broader public safety strategy, warning that the service cannot credibly fight crime while ignoring misconduct within its own ranks.

    Speaking at a public press conference held in Kingstown, Simmons dedicated a substantial portion of his address to the critical role of good order, professional integrity, and strict accountability within the RSVGPF, framing robust internal discipline as the foundational pillar of both public trust and effective, community-centered policing. He emphasized that the public not only expects police to uphold law and order for all citizens, but also deserves full confidence that the officers tasked with enforcing the law meet the same strict standards they are required to impose on the community.

    “An as organization, we cannot successfully combat widespread criminal activity if we turn a blind eye to unprofessional and illegal behavior among our own members,” Simmons told reporters. He went on to draw a direct causal link between public cooperation and consistent internal discipline, noting that for residents to come forward with sensitive information about illegal gun activity — a key tool for preventing and solving violent crime — they must first be certain that every officer upholds the ethical and legal rules the force is sworn to protect.

    Simmons openly acknowledged that high-profile incidents in recent years have eroded public confidence in the RSVGPF, and that force leadership fully recognizes how these events have damaged community-police relations. Against this backdrop, he announced a renewed, force-wide focus on upholding professional standards, outlining four core areas that will see stricter enforcement moving forward: consistent adherence to good order and discipline, unwavering commitment to integrity and accountability, full compliance with existing standing orders and service regulations, and strict observance of established operational protocols in all day-to-day policing activities.

    Rejecting the framing of internal discipline as a trivial administrative housekeeping task, Simmons positioned it as a non-negotiable prerequisite for effective crime fighting. “As police officers, we must lead by example. A stronger, more accountable police force is far better positioned to protect the public we are sworn to serve,” he stated.

    Simmons drew a clear distinction between officers who consistently uphold professional standards and those who abuse their positions of public trust, offering a clear guarantee that officers who carry out their duties ethically and effectively will receive full, unwavering support from the force’s senior leadership. At the same time, he issued a stark direct warning to officers who misuse their authority, compromise active investigations, mishandle sensitive confidential information, engage in corrupt practices, or otherwise damage the public reputation of the RSVGPF: there will be clear, tangible consequences for this type of misconduct.

    The acting deputy commissioner’s remarks on internal reform came during the same press conference where he and other RSVGPF leaders outlined a new, tougher, intelligence-centered strategy to counter rising gun violence across St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Simmons stressed that internal reform and external crime-fighting operations must go hand in hand to deliver sustainable results. He had previously noted that the force’s response to gun violence must be organized, intelligence-driven, and sustained, with officer deployments tied directly to mapped crime patterns and actionable intelligence, rather than relying on ineffective routine random patrols.

    Even as the force adopts more aggressive tactics to tackle violent crime, Simmons made clear that rigorous, proactive policing does not justify indiscriminate or abusive conduct by officers. He insisted that all police operations must remain guided by the rule of law and respect for constitutional rights of all citizens. “Our officers will operate fully within the bounds of the law, respect the rights of every citizen, and maintain the highest possible standards of professionalism,” he said. “We will be firm and uncompromising with criminals, but always fair to law-abiding members of the public.”

    Simmons directly tied the new push for stricter internal discipline to repairing and rebuilding the fractured relationship between the RSVGPF and the communities it serves, warning that without restored public trust, the force’s entire anti-crime strategy is at risk of failure. He reminded residents that the RSVGPF depends on community cooperation to reduce gun violence, as tips and information from the public are often the critical factor in preventing violent attacks or securing convictions for illegal gun offenses.

    Reaffirming leadership’s awareness of past missteps, Simmons noted that previous incidents involving police officers have reshaped public perception of the force for many residents. “We know that there have been several incidents in the past that have caused you to look at us a different way, but we understand your concerns, and we ask you not to lose confidence in us because everybody needs the police. The police are the public, and the public are the police,” he told attendees at the press conference.

    For Simmons, internal discipline is both a core internal obligation for every officer and a necessary response to legitimate public expectations. Internally, this requires all officers to strictly adhere to the RSVGPF’s existing standing orders, regulations, and operational procedures. Externally, it requires officers to act in ways that reinforce, rather than erode, public trust in the police as a law-abiding, impartial public institution.

    Simmons’ call for stricter internal accountability comes as the RSVGPF as a whole rolls out expanded anti-violence operations across Kingstown and its surrounding areas, responding to a recent spike in gun-related crime. At the same press conference, Acting Commissioner Trevor “Buju” Bailey outlined other key elements of the new strategy, including zoning the capital city, increasing the presence of armed patrols in high-crime areas, and rolling out new forensic investigative tools to solve gun crimes faster.

    Simmons’ new push for internal discipline fills a critical complementary role in the broader strategy: strengthening professional standards, boosting accountability, and rebuilding community engagement to ensure that the force’s new, tougher crime-fighting tactics do not come at the cost of public legitimacy. Repeating his core message, Simmons underlined that professional internal conduct is not a secondary side issue, but central to delivering sustained public safety for all residents of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. “It is when a police force is stronger that it is better positioned to protect the public that we serve,” he said.

  • FLASH State Exams : All results available, by department and by student

    FLASH State Exams : All results available, by department and by student

    On August 31, 2026, Haiti’s Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training (MENFP) officially announced that all results for the country’s 2025-2026 national state examinations are now fully available for public access, sorted by administrative department and individual student. The official data was released by Haiti’s National Bureau of State Examinations (BUNEXE), covering four key exam groups that serve as major academic milestones for students across the Caribbean nation.

    The first set of results covers the 9th Fundamental Year Examinations, a critical assessment marking the end of lower-level basic education. Across all 10 Haitian departments, 182,051 students registered and participated in the exam, with 162,086 successful candidates earning passing marks. This puts the national overall pass rate at 89.03% for the current academic year. Department-level results show dramatic variation from the 2024-2025 cycle: the Northwest department posted a remarkable jump in pass rates, rising from 54.19% last year to 99.22% this cycle, with 13,006 passes out of 13,108 total participants. By contrast, Grand’Anse saw a notable decline from 93.74% to 85.99%, while the North, West, Artibonite and Southeast departments recorded small single-digit drops in their pass rates. Northeast, South, Centre and Nippes all posted minor increases between 0.23% and 4.38% compared to last year’s results.

    For the new reformed NS-IV Baccalaureate, the secondary school leaving examination required for university admission, a total of 100,116 students participated across all departments, with 50,467 passing for an overall national pass rate of 50.41%. Here too, the Northwest department led in performance with a 78% pass rate, which also marks a dramatic 47 percentage point increase from its 30.99% pass rate in 2024-2025. The Centre department also saw a significant jump from 49.72% to 68.10% this year. However, West department posted a sharp decline from 95.16% to 45.73%, Nippes dropped from 75% to 40.36%, and Grand’Anse fell from 61.87% to 42.84% year-over-year. Most other departments recorded small to moderate increases in pass rates.

    In addition to the regular Baccalaureate cycle, BUNEXE also released results for the permanent Baccalaureate session for candidates who had failed previous attempts. For this 2025-2026 session, 14,175 retake candidates participated, with 7,207 passing for an overall pass rate of 50.84%. Departmental results for this group range from a high of 81.27% in the Centre department to a low of 20.39% in Nippes.

    Finally, results for the official entrance examination to the prestigious Normal School for Teachers and Kindergarteners (ENIJE), the country’s main teacher training institution, were also released. Out of 2,510 applicants for preschool and fundamental education training tracks, 1,759 gained admission, for a 70.08% overall pass rate.

    All results, broken down by school, examination subject, and test center, are hosted on the official MENFP website at www.menfp.gouv.ht, and individual student results can be accessed via a dedicated official link. BUNEXE has issued an important advisory for students and families checking results: due to the extremely high volume of concurrent users attempting to access the portal, the government server may experience temporary slowdowns or intermittent outages. Officials recommend that users who cannot connect avoid repeated attempts, as this adds to server congestion, and instead wait 10 to 30 minutes before trying again to access their results.

  • IT’S SO GRUESOME

    IT’S SO GRUESOME

    At 91 years old, Merle Bertrand, a trailblazing former Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in Trinidad and Tobago, has witnessed the remarkable evolution of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS). From its early days as a heavily male-dominated institution where women had to fight hard to earn legitimacy, to a modern force where women now hold key senior leadership positions, Bertrand’s personal journey tracks every step of that change.

    Bertrand is one of the last surviving members of the pioneering group of women police recruits known as Batch 5,000. In 1955, she made history as one of the first 12 women formally recruited into what was then called the Trinidad and Tobago Police Force. That year marked the official introduction of women officers to the service, with the initial mandate of handling cases involving juveniles and female victims. Today, the TTPS Museum honors these barrier-breaking pioneers with a dedicated Women in Policing exhibition.

    In a recent telephone interview with local outlet *Express*, Bertrand opened up about the high stakes the first cohort of women faced back in 1955. Leadership made it clear that if the group failed to prove women could perform police work at the required standard, there would be no future recruitment of female officers. “The Executive Committee said that if we didn’t prove ourselves, that was it. So we had to fight, fight, fight. For two years we did, and they took the second batch,” Bertrand recalled.

    Though the first women were hired primarily to work on women and children-related cases, their scope of responsibility expanded far beyond those initial limits far faster than expected. The 12 recruits were split across four stations in the former North Western Division: Woodbrook, Belmont, Besson Street, and Central Police Stations. At Central Station, Bertrand took on patrol duties and charge room work, even pulling overnight and weekend shifts with the Anti-Vice Squad, where she monitored vice establishments, made arrests, and participated in raids. After a transfer to Belmont Police Station, she began leading general criminal investigations, and later joined the Flying Squad for high-profile raids.

    Slow but steady progress followed. Two fellow early female officers, Jessica St Rose and Merle Carter, traveled to the United Kingdom for advanced training; upon their return, they established the formal Women Police Branch and set official standing orders for female officers, creating a structured framework for women in the service. Bertrand added that the public quickly embraced female officers, saying “The public respected women police. People looked up to us, and we would get any information.”

    Bertrand retired from the TTPS in 1985, but she has continued to closely follow shifts in crime and policing across the nation. Today, she says the level of violent crime plaguing Trinidad and Tobago would have been unthinkable during her active career. “We had crime, of course we had crime. But not like now. The guns, the guns, the guns and the drugs. I mean, it was there, but it was not like it is now. There are now so many gruesome killings. Women are being killed a lot more now and children weren’t being murdered (back then),” she said.

    Beyond rising violence, Bertrand points to two other growing issues within the TTPS: a culture of impunity for corrupt officers, and a gap in practical on-the-job expertise left by retiring veteran investigators. “You have untouchables in Trinidad now, where you cannot touch the policemen. Whatever they are doing wrong they cannot be touched. If you don’t get rid of the head, you can’t get rid of the tail,” she argued. She also noted that when the generation of top veteran investigators retired, few new officers have been able to fill their roles. In her era, officers were not granted leave until high-priority cases – such as a string of repeat break-ins – were solved, a standard she says no longer holds. Today, she argues, many new recruits hold university degrees and high academic credentials, but lack the street smarts and hands-on investigative training that defined past cohorts: “Some of them never went and slept under houses and go in bush and wait for suspects to arrest them and stuff like that. They don’t know anything about that.”

    When asked what she would do to reform the service if she were back in uniform today, Bertrand pointed directly to the foundation of the force: recruitment and training. She called for a return to mandatory regular refresher training for serving officers, a requirement she says has been phased out. For recruitment, she argues that academic qualifications should not be the primary hiring metric, saying “You can’t just have anybody who come up with degrees and say, ‘Right, I want to be a police officer,’ and say, ‘Right, the more degrees you have, the more passes you have, we going to pick you.’ No. You can’t do so. Something has to be done about the recruiting because, you can’t have all these passes and you don’t have any street sense.”

    Bertrand’s legacy as a trailblazer and mentor endures among current and retired senior female officers. Retired Assistant Police Commissioner Joanne Archie, who also served as acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations and is also being honored by the TTPS Museum, called Bertrand a foundational influence for women in the service. “Women measured themselves against her. She stood tall, in bearing, in strength, and in the way she carried the responsibility of senior rank,” Archie said. “For many women in the Police Service, she was the mentor we needed. I was one of them. Her work ethic set the standard, and the way she conducted herself taught us what a senior officer should look like. Her voice was always her greatest strength — used to hold the line and to lift others up. I count it a privilege to have served alongside her.” Archie added that Bertrand remains active in police community WhatsApp groups, where she still shares insights on current policing issues, 69 years after first joining the force.

  • Kangaloo: Too many families grieving

    Kangaloo: Too many families grieving

    As Trinidad and Tobago marks its 64th year of national independence, President Christine Kangaloo has delivered a sober yet forward-looking national address that confronts the country’s most pressing challenges while calling on all citizens to embrace collective responsibility for the nation’s future.

    Opening her address, Kangaloo did not shy away from the harsh realities facing the Caribbean nation, highlighting the widespread grief that has torn through communities due to persistent violence. “Too many families across our country have known the pain of losing loved ones to senseless violence, and every grieving household carries a sorrow that resonates across the entire nation,” she said. She emphasized that achieving independence does not require citizens to ignore deep-seated problems; instead, self-governance grants the freedom and imposes a non-negotiable duty to confront these challenges head-on.

    Reflecting on the country’s constitutional journey, Kangaloo framed national sovereignty as a collective stewardship rather than a symbolic milestone. “Independence gave us the authority to chart our own national path, and transitioning to republican status placed full responsibility for our constitutional future in our own hands,” she explained. “Sovereignty, in the end, is stewardship: it is our shared duty to nurture the nation entrusted to us, and leave it stronger than we inherited it.”

    The President stressed that the fundamental freedoms the nation celebrates must include the right to live without fear of violence. Every life cut short by violent crime weakens the entire country, she argued, making the demand for public safety and the rule of law not just a policy goal, but a fundamental citizen right. She pushed back against the false framing that personal liberty, public security, and the sanctity of life are competing priorities, noting that a mature democracy works thoughtfully to protect all three values simultaneously.

    Building a peaceful, inclusive nation is a shared responsibility that extends far beyond government institutions, Kangaloo argued. Meaningful change begins at the community level: when adults teach children to value human life, when families, teachers, faith leaders and coaches help young people find a sense of purpose, and when every citizen chooses active engagement over indifference and collective service over personal gain.

    A core pillar of that inclusive nation-building, she added, is a commitment to genuine equity for all citizens. While independence made all Trinidadians and Tobagonians equal under the law, true nationhood requires putting that equality into practice. This means celebrating the cultural differences that enrich national life without letting those differences determine who belongs, whose contributions matter, or whose dignity deserves protection. “The Republic belongs equally to every single citizen,” Kangaloo said. “Our national institutions are held in trust for all people, not the property of those who hold office, and their strength depends on the integrity of public servants and the vigilance of the communities they serve.”

    Looking ahead to the future that will be led by the next generation, the President outlined key priorities to equip young people for success. The nation must leave behind institutions that earn young people’s trust, build an economy that rewards entrepreneurship, creativity and honest work, and expand opportunity so it is not limited by birth or background. She also highlighted the importance of passing down the nation’s rich cultural inheritance, noting that preserving the country’s faiths, traditions, music and shared stories is how generations have built unity from diversity.

    Kangaloo also positioned environmental stewardship as a core part of national independence. The islands’ land and coastal ecosystems are a central part of the national inheritance, she said, so protecting these natural resources, planning for climate change, and strengthening domestic food production are core acts of national stewardship. She added that national sovereignty does not mean isolation; instead, Trinidad and Tobago’s independence is strengthened when it contributes to the Caribbean community and the global order through a commitment to mutual respect, cooperation and peace.

    Noting the return of the traditional Independence Day parade after disruptions, Kangaloo said the event is not just a celebration of nationhood, but a reaffirmation of collective responsibility for the future. “The true measure of our independence is not simply that we have the freedom to make our own choices,” she said. “It is whether we choose wisely, whether we treat one another justly, and whether we leave the next generation a country that is more peaceful, more prosperous and more united than the one we received.”

    Closing her address, the President recalled that 64 years ago, the nation took control of its own destiny, and 50 years ago, it reaffirmed that responsibility as a republic. “Today, that responsibility belongs to every single one of us,” she said. “Let us meet it with honesty about where we have fallen short, confidence in what we can still achieve, and faith in one another.”