Orlandette Crabbe
Schools across the Virgin Islands are seeing more students enter the system with learning challenges — an issue the Ministry of Education is addressing through a more tailored, student-focused approach.
Chief Education Officer Orlandette Crabbe said the trend is linked to disruptions caused by the 2017 hurricanes, subsequent shift systems, and the global COVID-19 pandemic, all of which led students to miss significant amounts of instruction.
“Teachers have struggled with the idea that a tenth grader is supposed to be able to do certain things. But the typical tenth grader no longer exists, because globally school children have missed so much instruction that it has created gaps,” Ms. Crabbe explained. “We can’t start a tenth-grade curriculum with a student who comes to us missing some seventh-grade skills.”
She added that the ministry’s approach now emphasises meeting children where they are academically, identifying their needs, and building on those needs to help them catch up.
Ms. Crabbe noted that more children are presenting “atypically,” particularly in kindergarten, though she stopped short of labelling all such cases as special needs.
“I believe that what they lack is experience and environment. But once we get them in the right environment and give them the right experiences, a lot of them catch up to their peers,” she said.
The ministry’s Exceptional Education Unit has been working closely with principals and teachers to respond to the growing demand for individualised support.
“We cannot continue with the approach we’ve been taking,” Ms. Crabbe said. “We have to be able to meet our children where they are and provide instruction that gives them the skills that they come to us missing.”
Copyright 2025 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.
