The 2025 graduation season in the VI began with the graduation ceremony of 145 students from the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) on June 12, 2025. Photo: Government of the Virgin Islands

The 2025 graduation season in the VI began with the graduation ceremony of 145 students from the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) on June 12, 2025. Photo: VINO

A Career and Counsellor position in the Ministry of Education was created to be a monitoring tool and mechanism for senior secondary school students to receive guidance along strategic career pathways. Photo: Internet Source

Hon de Castro was responding to a question on The Virgin Islands Voice on June 11, 2025, about graduates from secondary school and college and strengthening the connection between graduates and the workforce needs of the Virgin Islands (VI) to reduce unemployment rates in the Territory.

The 2025 graduation season in the VI began with the graduation ceremony of 145 students from H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) on June 12, 2025.

Employment looks different for different persons

According to Hon de Castro, the current reality is that young people need to be educated to access employment, and employment looks different for different people. 

“Our young people can be employers, they can be entrepreneurs and small business owners, but they can also become employees as well…that’s why we’ve been reimagining our education system.”

This reimagining of the education system entails having an understanding of not just mastering content but also developing skills. 

“Skills are transferale so when we speak about full STEAM ahead, we really mean developing skills like critical thinking, problem solving, creation, innovation, collaboration, communication, those are the type of skills, no matter the content area, if you develop them, our children can be successful  and that’s the linkage to employability.”

Employers worldwide, she argued, from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses, say letter grades are no longer fit for purpose. 

New Career & Counsellor position in MoE

It is important to graduate students with skills, Hon de Castro said, adding that the Ministry of Education has been working on just that. 

“We created a Career and Counsellor position in the Ministry of Education…while our school counsellors have been seeking to bridge that gap, given their responsibilities, it’s a mammoth task.”

The position, she said, was created to be a monitoring tool and mechanism for senior secondary school students to receive guidance along strategic career pathways, so they can understand the kind of subjects they must take. 

Redeveloped Senior Secondary Programme

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has also redeveloped the territory’s Senior Secondary Programme following significant stakeholder consultations. 

The Ministry will roll out the new Senior Secondary Programme at the public schools in a phased approach. 

“It really speaks to creating access to career readiness.”

She said that to accomplish the aim of ensuring students are work-ready, it is necessary to be more strategic in what is offered and how they are selected by students. 

“So that when they are ready to access HLSCC, for example, they have those foundational skills in the requisite areas to be able to move into these career paths with their Associate Degrees, so it has been something that has been on our radar.”