HC Deb 12 July 1950 vol 477 cc1346-8
42. Dr. Morgan

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what information he has as to the extent of illiteracy amongst the population of the island colonies in the Caribbean area; how many secondary schools there are in the Island of Grenada; how many Government scholarships are annually available there from the primary schools to the local secondary schools; how many from the local secondary schools to schools in Britain; and whether a scholarship has yet been awarded to a girl scholar from the local secondary schools to Great Britain.

Mr. Cook

As the answer is long, and includes many figures, I will, with my hon. Friend's permission, circulate it' in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Following is the answer:

The following table shows the percentage of illiterates in the age-group 10 years and over as given by the last population censuses. Illiteracy is defined as inability either to read or write, but it is a characteristic difficult to measure and is hardly comparable between different territories.

Colony Percentage illiterate in10+ age group Date of census
Per cent.
Barbados 7 1946
Jamaica 24 1943
Cayman Islands 8 1943
Turks & Caicos Islands 12 1943
Leeward Islands:
Antigua 13 1946
Montserrat 19 1946
St. Christopher-Nevis. 15 1946
Virgin Islands 13 1946
Trinidad and Tobago 23 1946
Windward Islands:
Dominica 35 1946
Grenada 18 1946
St. Lucia 45 1946
St. Vincent 19 1946

There are five secondary schools in Grenada. The number of Government scholarships from primary to secondary schools varies but averages about 18 yearly. In addition, there are three non-Government external scholarships open to primary school children and nine internal scholarships awarded after entry into secondary school.

There are no scholarships from secondary schools in Grenada to schools in Britain. There is one Government scholarship every two years to a British university and a varying number of grants for training and education in this country. There are at present 12 students with gov- ernment grants from Grenada in Britain. Two are holders of Government scholarships; two are receiving further education and training grants and the remainder (including three student nurses and one woman medical student) are receiving Colonial Development and Welfare grants.