Students from Tortola who attend the Bregado Flax Educational Centre on Virgin Gorda. Photo: Team of Reporters

Tortola students attending Bregado Flax Educational Centre on Virgin Gorda head at catch the ferry at St Thomas Bay on Virgin Gorda. Photo: Team of Reporters

The Bregado Flax Educational Centre has attracted several students from Tortola. Photo: RDA/File

Ciboney Centre for Excellence on Virgin Gorda is one of the leading private schools in the territory. Photo: Facebook

It was not always easy, as it meant taking a ferry ride daily in smaller boats, most often in rough waters between Tortola and Virgin Gorda. In those early days, there was no Bregado Flax Educational Centre, no Valley Day School, no The Little Rainbow School and no Ciboney Centre for Excellence.

Therefore, all roads for an education led to Tortola at the then BVI High School, where some students had to find families on Tortola to stay with for the week, and they did not always receive the best treatment. There are stories of abuse, hunger and most often three to four in one bed.

Anegada was much the same, with no secondary school, and it was also difficult, some 50-plus years ago, to get a high school education there. One could only imagine the struggles of disabled or poorer students on the sister islands in those early days.

The transition

80 years ago, formal education was rare and mostly for the elite, in addition to some church-run schools. This led to the first Education Act in 1955. But this is not the objective of this article; the focus is on the transition and the reversal from seeking educational opportunities only on the main island of Tortola.

For example, in 2025, fewer than 5 students come to Tortola from Virgin Gorda to attend the Elmore Stoutt High School, according to Principal Vanessa K. Garraway.  

Outside of students coming from Virgin Gorda and Jost van Dyke to attend the Virgin Islands School of Technical Studies (VISTS), there has been a reversal in the past 5 years, where students from Tortola are going to Virgin Gorda to seek an education, both elementary and secondary. This is indeed a historical shift. Boats, especially Speedy’s Ferry Service, are filled each day with over 40 students of all ages to attend schools on Virgin Gorda. There are also those who stay on Virgin Gorda now with families, the same way it was some 50 years ago when students from Virgin Gorda stayed on Tortola.

Private school education at Ciboney

One of the more popular private schools on Virgin Gorda is Ciboney Centre of Excellence, which offers from day care up to a secondary education and seems to be a favourite choice for residents of Tortola. There are even students from Tortola who journey to Virgin Gorda to attend the Bregado Flax Educational Centre.

When asked if the issue after 50 years is overcrowding in the Tortola schools, Chief Education Officer Mrs Orlandette R. Crabbe said it is a combination of many factors. She noted that Ciboney Centre for Excellence is “the choice for many parents who are seeking an affordable private school education” and that the institution is on par with Cedar International School located on Tortola. She also stated that there are about “20 students who travel from Tortola to Virgin Gorda to attend the Bregado Flax Educational Centre as they admire the small classroom teacher-to-student ratio”.

Trend will continue- Mrs O’Neal-Alexander

However, what is a historical reversal is that now there are about the same number of students from Tortola heading to Virgin Gorda daily for an education. The former Principal of the Bregado Flax Education Centre, Mrs Caryl D. L. O’Neal-Alexander, who spent some 51 years in education, also spoke about her experience having to come to Tortola in the 1970s for an education. She noted that the experience of staying with family and friends was not always the best, and many students suffered psychological challenges “as it was more like a business arrangements”. When asked the reason for the reversal, she agreed that “the small classroom student-teacher size on Virgin Gorda was a factor, along with parents now having more choices”.

Mrs O’Neal-Alexander does not predict that the trend will reverse anytime soon, as Virgin Gorda is holding its own in terms of high-quality education at all levels. The educator stated that most of the students coming from Tortola to Virgin Gorda “are from the higher income families”. She credited her uncle, the late Premier Ralph T. O’Neal, for his role in bringing secondary public education to Virgin Gorda.

One sure fact is that history must recall that students are going in huge numbers from Tortola to Virgin Gorda in 2025 for an education. They represent all ages, attending both private and public schools, all races, incomes and also present new business opportunities for ferry services, restaurants, taxi services and population increase for Virgin Gorda.