Minister of Education, Science and Technology On the Opening of the 2026/2027 Academic Year

My fellow Antiguans and Barbudans,

There is a particular sound to the first morning of a school year in this country. Uniforms that are still stiff. Shoes that have not yet been broken in. A queue of traffic on the road because every parent in Antigua and Barbuda is trying to do the same thing at the same time.

I want to begin simply by wishing every one of our students a good year. And I want to say to the parents who got them there this morning, often after a summer of stretching a budget further than it was meant to go, that this Government sees you, and that some of the weight you have carried in past Septembers you no longer have to carry.

Let me say plainly what has changed.

If your child sits CSEC (CXC) or CAPE this year, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda pays those examination fees. Your child will choose subjects based on ambition and aptitude, and nothing else.

If your child, or you yourself, wishes to pursue a degree at the University of the West Indies, tuition is covered. If the path is the Antigua and Barbuda College of Advanced Studies, new Antiguan and Barbudan students enter tuition-free. If the path is a trade, a technical certification or a skill learned at the Antigua and Barbuda Institute of Continuing Education, tuition is waived there as well.

I want us to understand what that actually means, because we have said it so often that we risk taking it for granted.

It means that in Antigua and Barbuda, in 2026, the question of whether a child is educated to the very limit of their ability is no longer a question about that family’s bank balance. It is a question about that child’s effort and that child’s will.

That is not a small thing. In much of the world it remains an aspiration. Here it is policy, it is funded, and it is happening this term.

This Government took the view that a country of our size cannot afford to waste a single capable person, and that every child we fail to develop is a doctor we will later import, a business that will never be started, a problem that will go unsolved.

So we removed the price tag. Not as generosity, but as national strategy.

To our teachers and school leaders: I am aware that policy arrives on your desk as extra work. New students, new expectations, new numbers coming through your gates because the fees no longer stop them. I do not take that for granted, and I will not pretend the resources have ever been as plentiful as your effort has been. You have my respect, you have my thanks, and you have my commitment that this Ministry will keep working to give you the tools, the training and the conditions your profession deserves.

To our parents and guardians: the State can open every door in this country and it will still not be enough without you. Education is a partnership, and your half of it cannot be legislated. Ask about the homework. Go to the meeting. Know the teacher. Praise the effort, not only the grade. Your attention is worth more than anything in our budget.

To our students: this year belongs to you.

You will be told, at some point this term, that something is beyond you. Some of you will be told it by other people, and some of you will tell it to yourselves at two in the morning before an examination. I would like you to remember that a country of ninety-odd thousand people has decided, deliberately, to spend its money on the belief that you are capable. We did not do that casually. We did it because we have seen what Antiguans and Barbudans do when the door is finally opened.

Work hard. Be curious past the point of the syllabus. Look after the classmate who is struggling. And aim higher than you think is reasonable, because reasonable is not what built this nation.

To the class beginning today, and to every teacher, parent and worker who will carry them through the year: let us make this one count.

May God bless our students, may God bless our educators, and may God bless the nation of Antigua and Barbuda.

Thank you.

The Honorable Daryll Matthew

Minister of Education, Science and Technology Government of Antigua and Barbuda

This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: Education Minister Urges Students to “Aim Higher” as 2026/2027 Academic Year Begins.