All three of Cayman’s political parties running in the general election have outlined education as a priority in their platforms.
Mentions of educational reform appear in each party’s manifesto and during the Chamber of Commerce candidate forums, education, schools and vocational training emerged as some of the most discussed topics.
The Cayman Islands National Party has identified education reform as a key youth development priority affecting both employment outcomes and mental wellbeing.
The Caymanian Community Party has promised to “revolutionise education and youth development” and to create “a Cayman where our children receive an unparalleled education”.
Meanwhile, the Progressives are striving for the ambitious aim of ensuring every public school is ranked ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ within four years – a goal also outlined by the PPM in its 2021 agenda.
Here is what the various parties have said about their visions to tackle the topic of education, from early childhood to career training.
Early childhood education
TCCP
The party’s manifesto outlines a vision for an education system that equips public education students with the skills to access jobs and have a successful future, starting with focused early childhood education.
The plan for early childhood education includes increasing access to “high quality and affordable early years education through an income-based fee system and piloting early years programmes in more communities”, as well as lowering the age for children to qualify for the Early Childhood Assistance Programme.
During the Chamber of Commerce party leaders debate, TCCP’s André Ebanks, running in West Bay South, made reference to increasing ECAP funding, connecting the issue to the “sociological disaster” created by Cayman’s de facto school segregation.
“We need to look at programmes like the ECAP that’s now at 3 years old [for children to qualify], have that age limit go down to 1 [year old], so single, working mothers can have more assistance earlier,” he said.
TCCP also proposes “developing a play-centred curriculum, ensuring appropriate teacher-child ratios and safe, stimulating environments”.
Other TCCP goals in this area include resources for special education screening, parent education programmes and incentives to hire literary specialists.
PPM
The Progressives describe a child’s early years as the window of opportunity to create “future health, happiness and success”.
“We will introduce a new comprehensive early years development strategy that includes but extends beyond early years education to include health, personal and social development, and support for parents, families and caregivers,” says the PPM manifesto, adding that the eastern districts will be a focus.
“Through the implementation of the strategy, we will both ensure that young children are healthy and safe and help them to develop the skills and knowledge they need for school. This approach will include earlier detection of special needs so that any learning gap is reduced.”
For students with special needs, PPM says more support and increased capacity will be needed at Lighthouse School and more resources will be necessary at mainstream schools.
Primary schools
TCCP
Low public school performance is an issue recognised by all three parties.
To improve outcomes, TCCP’s manifesto calls for personalised student-learning approaches, starting in the early years, as well as increasing screening and support for special needs education, increasing funding for extracurricular activities, and establishing “centres of excellence” in larger districts.
It suggests introducing the ‘Innovation in Education programme’ in primary schools with a focus on STEAM (science, tech, engineering, arts and maths) to promote student entrepreneurship. This curriculum would include “mandatory emotional literacy, character development, heritage and culture programmes with academic subjects”.
Technical and vocational education starting on the secondary level
TCCP
Technical and vocational education, known as TVET, has been a major talking point this election cycle.
TCCP proposes offering these subjects starting at Year 7, implementing a national TVET strategy and funding a specialist TVET college. The party also pitches “developing a national programme to ensure students graduate with meaningful work experience” and a curriculum with “life skills training, critical thinking and character development programmes”.
PPM
The Progressives say TVET is essential, with a plan to increase access to apprenticeships, training for Caymanians of all ages and international education partnerships.
PPM says the aim is to encourage skills training in “future industries”, including the digital sector, and integrate subjects like coding and robotics into the national curriculum.
“Other pathways will be developed in sectors like health, wellness, and homecare, ensuring that we are creating opportunities for young Caymanians in industries that address the future needs of our ageing population,” PPM says.
These expanded courses would be available at public schools, including the Cayman Islands Further Education Centre, with funding support from an additional work-permit fee for jobs in sectors like construction, “where there are significant labour shortages that are currently being filled with work permit holders”.
CINP
The Cayman Islands National Party proposes replacing the Level 1 diploma with a TVET certification.
This was a concept floated by CINP’s West Bay West candidate Julie Hunter, who said, “Our children, our young people, need to come out of school having something that they can go into a job, some kind of certification that they can be placed in the jobs that we have in Cayman.”
CINP also suggests starting vocational training as early as Year 5, “as students must be exposed to industry careers in the Cayman Islands and the training and education required to pursue employment”.
The national curriculum would also cover financial services and include a “life skills” component that teaches “financial literacy, career development, emotional intelligence, and other key soft skills important to future employability, such as problem-solving”.
”We recognise the emerging tech industry as a very innovative and complementary industry that we will develop and grow alongside our world-class financial services industry,” the CINP manifesto says.
CINP’s candidate in Prospect, Michael Myles, who runs Inspire Cayman, has been a longtime advocate for expanding vocational education.
“We have zero training programmes that’s connected to actual jobs in the market. Our goals going forward have to be a little bit different,” he said during the Chamber of Commerce forum. “We have to be able to connect [the departments of] education and [Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman] and labour.”
Tertiary opportunities and job-skills training
TCCP
For school leavers, TCCP says, “There should be more non-traditional pathways to the workforce, as well as tertiary opportunities for Caymanians of all ages.”
To do this, they propose increased scholarships for “post-secondary 1–2-year certifications” and expansion of apprenticeship programmes and work-based learning models.
TCCP’s TVET strategy would aim to focus on jobs that are “less vulnerable to the impact of artificial intelligence (AI)”.
Other careers-focused education plans include improving access to skills training in high-demand fields and aligning “education and vocational programmes with opportunities in financial services, tourism, technology, and healthcare” with an eye to promoting Caymanian employment and leadership.
PPM
The Progressives have proposed a programme called ‘First Job Plus’, focused at directing Caymanian graduates towards higher education, further training or employment.
“Those Caymanian school leavers not in education, employment or training by the end of the calendar year after they leave full time education will be offered a place on First Job Plus which will then provide them with work placements, on the job skills development and additional outside training and support as a pathway to permanent employment,” the PPM manifesto says.
PPM also promises to create a new National Workforce and Skills Development Strategy.
“This will dovetail with the strategy of diversifying the economy to ensure Caymanians can access higher skilled, higher paid job opportunities in industries where the demand for labour will be increasing,” PPM says.
The PPM vision to create “learning communities” would also look to include “comprehensive workforce development” as an educational aim.
“We will establish the Cayman Islands as three ‘learning Islands’ utilizing UNESCO’s learning cities model to make learning opportunities more accessible and more enjoyable for everyone in our community,” the manifesto says.
CINP
The Cayman Islands National Party suggests that WORC and the Department of Education “develop a working group to link industry jobs to scholarships. Both departments must link their databases to track students being trained and placed.”
The party also wants to see more apprenticeship programmes and a National Workforce Development Plan “that uses government and private sector industry education collaboration to provide a robust analysis for preparing Caymanians with the necessary workforce skills and qualifications to successfully meet the labour market needs”.
An additional “opportunity fee” on foreign workers would be “reinvested by government into local workforce training and stipends for Caymanians in apprenticeship work programs so that they have liveable wages while they are training”.
Youth development
TCCP
To promote youth development, TCCP says it will establish a 10-year strategic education plan, “which will include a phased approach to reintegrating our public schools”. Part of this scheme would include promotion of “life skills, emotional intelligence and positive social engagement” for young people.
Sports and extracurricular activities form a large part of this vision for healthy youth enrichment.
“Sports serve as a powerful tool for both individual development and community cohesion, creating stronger, more resilient societies,” TCCP’s manifesto says.
“Building on Cayman’s rich sporting heritage, our long-term vision is one where the Cayman Islands become the regions’ standard bearer for sporting excellence while nurturing healthier, more connected communities through expansion and innovation of current sports offerings.”
TCCP’s manifesto includes a dedicated section to the promotion of youth sports, stating that all children, regardless of socioeconomic status, should have access to sports facilities, coaching and equipment.
CINP
The CINP manifesto identifies significant barriers for Caymanian youth “to obtain quality education and achieve economic independence, civic engagement, and personal growth”. To address this, they propose a youth development policy that encompasses education reform, employment, housing, mental health, job readiness and civic participation.
The ‘National Youth Empowerment Roadmap (2025-2030)’ would update the National Youth Commission to ensure alignment with the National Youth Policy and Strategic Plan. It would also seek to reform the education system with the goal of making “Cayman Skilled and World Ready”.
The plan would also look to increase youth civic engagement with “policy consultations, town halls, and national planning processes, including Sister Islands youth to ensure representation across all three of our islands and enhance national sports and arts programmes to promote discipline, teamwork, creativity, cultural identity, and mental well-being”.
Environmental education
A stand-out proposal in the PPM platform is the concept of creating the Cayman Islands Partnership for Environmental Education, which would work with environmental and community groups, as well as the private sector, “to promote the understanding of and respect for Cayman’s environment; improve stewardship of Cayman’s environment; and empower a new generation of environmental leadership in the Cayman Islands”.
The CIPEE scheme would seek to make environmental education part of the national curriculum, promote “environmentally-based vocational education” and encourage environmental volunteerism. It would also seek to develop ‘citizen science’ initiatives and create “a network of accredited, locally-based ‘environmental champions’ across Cayman who will lead and co-ordinate local environmental awareness campaigns”.
Improving performance
TCCP suggests a performance-management system for public school teachers.
PPM wants to improve recruitment and retention of teachers. A ‘teaching mentor’ programme would seek to promote best practices through the guidance of teachers “whose own good practice is recognized through internal quality assurance and external inspections”. These mentors would receive salary incentives.
PPM also suggests a new governing body that includes parents and teachers to improve school performance. To support a positive learning environment, PPM says students need “modern and well-maintained school buildings”, supported through capital investment, and a plan to avoid classroom overcrowding.
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