By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

EDUCATION Minister Chester Cooper said the government plans to introduce vocational, technical and special education diplomas by the 2027 graduation year, marking a major shift away from a system centred almost exclusively on academic qualifications.

Mr Cooper said the new pathways are intended to recognise students whose strengths lie outside traditional academics and give them credible routes to graduation and careers.

“We must move beyond the idea that there is only one respectable route through education,” Mr Cooper said. “Yes, academic excellence matters, but so do technical competence.”

He made the announcement yesterday during the 2026 Public Schools Administrators’ Conclave at Baha Mar, where he urged administrators to help lead what he described as a transformation of the education system.

The ministry is aiming to increase the Bahamas High School Diploma graduation rate to 85 percent by 2030, and Mr Cooper said the introduction of additional diploma options would form part of a broader effort to create more pathways for students.

“We were talking generally about the various pathways to success of national diploma,” Mr Cooper told reporters. “We have long focused on an academic diploma only.”

He said every child learns differently and confirmed that students would be able to pursue vocational and technical diplomas, along with a special education diploma.

“It's really an acknowledgement that technical and vocational education really is the currency for tomorrow,” Mr Cooper said. “We must continue to support and encourage our students who are good with their hands to serve and develop careers with dignity.”

He said students should not be made to feel inferior because their strengths do not lie in academics.

The announcement comes as the Ministry of Education continues to confront staffing shortages ahead of the new school year.

Last month, the ministry launched a drive to recruit as many as 100 Bahamians as the Government seeks to address a shortage of about 300 teachers before schools reopen in September.

Officials are also strengthening the ministry’s Human Resources Department.

Asked whether the restructuring of the department would help with teacher and administrator recruitment, Mr Cooper said the well-being of staff had to be a priority.

The ministry is also dealing with unresolved industrial negotiations with the Bahamas Union of Teachers.

BUT president Belinda Wilson told members in a voice note last week that negotiations had resumed, but said the union had rejected the Government’s salary counter-proposal because it was the same package that 90 percent of members had previously voted against.

Mrs Wilson said negotiations were at an impasse and that 90 percent of members had voted in favour of industrial action. She said the Government had only a few days to submit a revised salary package acceptable to teachers.

Mr Cooper, however, said the ministry was “on the same page” with all of its unions, although he declined to give further details about negotiations with the BUT.