• To maintain universal primary education in the sub-region.
• To improve the quality of primary education in the sub-region.
• To transform the prevailing practices of primary schooling from emphasis on student passivity to an emphasis on active student engagement in his or her learning, integration across subject disciplines, independent learning and multilevel teaching.
• To provide adequately for the special needs of students who require such.

Since countries of the OECS have developed self-sustaining systems of primary education that are reasonably efficient in terms of attendance, repetition of grades, drop- out and completion rates within the prescribed duration of primary schooling, the objectives address maintaining universal primary schooling, transforming the learning process and improving quality to make primary education more responsive to the needs of students requiring remediation and special education. The emphasis of the strategies is to concentrate on capital and developmental inputs that would have optimal impact on raising the quality of primary education while adding only minimally to recurrent costs.

General Philosophy

Primary education should be designed to meet the basic learning needs of students. These needs comprise both essential learning tools (such as literacy, oral expression, numeracy and problem solving) and the basic learning content (such as knowledge, skills, values and attitudes) required by human beings to be able to survive, to develop their capacities, to live and work in dignity, to participate fully in development, to improve the quality of their lives, to make informed decisions and to continue learning.

Every child should have access to primary education and should master the basic functional standards set for this level of education