General

Suriname has a reasonably good level of basic-education, which results in a literacy rate in the coastal area among adults of 93%. For the whole country the literacy rate is 88%.
There is a widespread consensus in Suriname about the importance of education for both economic and social development. Suriname devotes a larger share of national resources to education compared to many other countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2006 public education amounts to about 5.1% of GDP and 19.1% of total government budget. However, a high proportion of the financial resources is devoted to personnel expenditures. This leaves insufficient funding for complementary inputs including supplies, equipment and school maintenance.

Education is regulated, coordinated, managed and financed by the Ministry of Education and Community Development (MOECD), which is responsible for the provision of education throughout the country. The education system of Suriname comprises pre-primary, primary, junior secondary, senior secondary and tertiary schooling. There are 312 primary schools, 142 secondary schools and one university in Suriname. About half of the numbers of schools are operated by religious organizations that are mostly financed and regulated by the MOECD. They handle the national curriculum, use the same textbooks as the public schools and depend on the MOECD for the delivery of the textbooks and instructional materials.

In 1873 school attendance for children from 7 to 12 years old became legally obliged by the Compulsory Education Act. The education system uses a tracking system based on students’ performance on national and school tests to determine their progress within the school system. At the end of the primary education cycle, the pupils are awarded a Primary School Certificate. According to their scores for the final examination of Primary School, the pupils may enter one of the six streams at junior secondary school. At the end of junior secondary school, the tracking process is repeated for students enrolled in the general stream of junior secondary school. The students who pass the final examination of junior secondary school can enter one of the six streams in senior secondary school; again their options are determined by their test results.

Pre-Primary and Primary Education

Length of program    : 6 years
Age of entry               : 6 years
Age of exit                 : 12 years

Pre-primary education is offered by day nursery, play groups and kindergarten.

The curriculum of the primary education is designed to give students a sound basic education in Dutch along with elementary understanding of other subjects such as reading, writing and arithmetic. Primary education leads to a nationwide selective examination, which determines whether the students graduate from primary school and the level they enter secondary education. Except for the ordinary primary schools Suriname has Special Education schools (BO) for children with a physical or mental handicap.

There are also some private primary schools that teach in Dutch and English.

Junior-and Senior Secondary Education

Length of program    : 4 years
Age of entry               : 12 years
Age of exit                 : 16 years

There are six streams, one general stream and five vocational streams. The junior secondary general, the MULO, is a four-year course with emphasis on the cognitive development of the students. The MULO schools prepare students for the senior-secondary level. In the school year 2004/2005 there were 20,194 MULO-pupils. The completers examination was done by 4,739 pupils of which 2,549 passed the exam, while 2,190 pupils failed the exam.

Students who fail to reach the required results for MULO at the entrance examinations can be admitted to one of the five vocational streams.
The five vocational streams are:
1.      Junior Secondary Vocational School (LBGO)
2.      Junior Secondary Technical School (LTO)
3.      Junior Secondary Elementary Vocational Education (EBO)
4.      Junior Secondary Vocational Home Economics (LNO)
5.      Junior Secondary Special Education (VBO)

Senior secondary education has general and vocational streams. The general streams prepare students for higher education. The vocational courses may be considered terminal. There are two general streams, the Higher General Secondary Education (Havo) and the Prepatory Scientific Education (VWO). The Havo is a two year course that prepares the students for higher vocational education. The VWO is a three year course that prepares students for the University. The vocational streams are the Commercial College (IMEAO), the Technical College (Natin) and the Teacher Training Colleges (CPI, PA and SPI). In table 1.7 the number of pupils of VWO, Havo, Natin, IMEAO and the Teacher Training Colleges are provided.

Table 1.7 Number of pupils of Senior Secondary Schools

Source: General Bureau of Statistics

There are also some private schools that provide secondary education in Dutch and English.

Tertiary Education

Tertiary education consists of postgraduate education in business administration (MBA), university education and higher vocational education.
The MBA course is conducted by the FHR Lim A Po Institute for Social Studies (FHR), a non-profit private organization, in cooperation with the Maastricht School of Management (MsM) announces its MBA Program.

The MBA course is an 18 months program for 30 participants starting each year.The objective of the program is to provide state-of-the-art postgraduate education in business administration to advance the knowledge and practice of management and to train leaders for a dynamic global business environment.
The Program targets young professionals and mid career executives who come from different types of organisations including private companies, governmental organisations and NGO’s.
The University of Suriname, the Anton de Kom University (Adek), was established in 1968 and has three faculties:

1. Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences (2004/2005: 2,173 students); this faculty provides studies in Law, General Economics, Business Administration, Public Administration, Sociology and Agogic Sciences and Education.
2. Faculty of Medical Sciences (2004/2005: 327 students); this faculty provides studies in Medicine and physiotherapy.
3. Faculty of Technology (2004/2005: 701 students); this faculty provides studies in infrastructure, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, agricultural production, mineral production and environmental sciences.

The studies last four to five years. . The degrees used in Suriname are Dutch, drs (social science), ir (technological science) and mr (law); they are equivalent to a master degree.

The University has nine research-centers to do research in many domains. The university has covenants with many universities in Europe, the United States and the Caribbean. Suriname signed the Convention On the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Degrees in Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean in 1974.

Tertiary vocational education is provided by the Teacher Training College for Technical Education (LOBO), the Advanced Teacher Training Institute (IOL), the Academy of Fine Arts and Communications (AHKCO), the Nursery Training Institute (COVAB), the Hogeschool In-Holland and the Polytechnic College. In the study year 2004/2005 there were 6,042 students following tertiary level education, up from 5,461 in the year 2003/2004. In table 1.8 the number of students per college is provided.

Table 1.8 Number of students following tertiary education per college

Source: General Bureau of Statistics

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