| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1964 |
| Jurisdiction |  Bahamas Government of the Bahamas |
| Minister responsible | |
| Parent agency | Government of the Bahamas |
| Website | www |
The Ministry of Education and Technical and Vocational Training is a government ministry of the Bahamas responsible for public education.
| Name | Took office | Left office | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Godfrey Kelly | 1964 | 1967 | [1] [2] |
| Arthur D. Hanna | 1967 | 1968 | [1] [2] |
| Cecil Wallace-Whitfield | 1968 | 1970 | [1] [2] |
| Carlton Francis | 1970 | 1972 | [1] [2] |
| Livingston Coakley | 1972 | 1982 | [1] [2] |
| Darrell Rolle | 1982 | 1984 | [1] [2] |
| Paul Adderley | 1984 | 1990 | [1] [2] |
| Bernard Nottage | 1990 | 1992 | [1] [2] |
| Cornelius A. Smith | 1992 | 1994 | [1] [2] |
| Ivy Dumont | 1995 | 2001 | [1] [2] |
| Dion Foulkes | 2001 | 2002 | [1] [2] |
| Alfred Sears | 2002 | 2007 | [1] [2] |
| Carl Bethel | 2007 | 2009 | [1] [2] |
| Desmond Bannister | 2009 | 2012 | [2] |
| Jerome Fitzgerald | 2012 [2] | 2017 | |
| Jeffrey L. Lloyd | 2017 | 2021 | |
| Glenys Hanna Martin | 2021 | Incumbent |
The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and 88% of its population. The archipelagic country consists of more than 3,000 islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, and is located north of Cuba and northwest of the island of Hispaniola and the Turks and Caicos Islands, southeast of the U.S. state of Florida, and east of the Florida Keys. The capital is Nassau on the island of New Providence. The Royal Bahamas Defence Force describes The Bahamas' territory as encompassing 470,000 km2 (180,000 sq mi) of ocean space.
The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and northern West Indies. They are known primarily for tourism and as an offshore financial centre. The resident population in 2023 was estimated by The World Factbook at 59,367, making it the third-largest of the British overseas territories by population. However, according to a Department of Statistics estimate in 2022, the population was 47,720.
Dame Ivy Leona Dumont, is a Bahamian politician who served as the seventh governor-general of the Bahamas. She was the first woman in the Bahamas to hold this office, from 1 January 2002 until 30 November 2005. She previously served as Minister of Education from 1995 to 2001.
Local government in The Bahamas exists at two levels: 32 districts and 41 towns. The boundaries of districts are defined by the First Schedule of The Bahamas Local Government Act 1996, defined with reference to parliamentary constituency boundaries. The Second Schedule lists 13 districts which are divided into town areas. Towns are governed by directly elected town committees. Second Schedule districts are governed by nine-person district councils composed of the chairs of the town committees, and if numerically required, additional people elected by the town committees. The 19 Third Schedule districts are unitary authorities which cannot be divided into towns. They are governed by nine-person district councils which are directly elected by voters. The powers of Second Schedule and Third Schedule councils are slightly different, and the Third Schedule district known as the City of Freeport has a slightly different list of enumerated powers.
.bs is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Bahamas. It is administered by the University of the Bahamas.
A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the Bahamas have limited legal protections. While same-sex sexual activity is legal in the Bahamas, there are no laws that address discrimination or harassment on the account of sexual orientation or gender identity, nor does it recognize same sex unions in any form, whether it be marriage or partnerships. Households headed by same-sex couples are also not eligible for any of the same rights given to opposite-sex married couples.
The Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) is a professional body that regulates the accountancy industry in the Bahamas. In theory anyone approved by the relevant government ministry can act as an independent auditor, but in practice, all auditors are members of BICA.
Ministry of Culture may refer to:
The Minister of Tourism is the head of the governmental department that specializes in tourism, recreation and/or culture.
Education in the Bahamas is compulsory between the ages of 5 and 16. As of 2003, the school attendance rate was 92% and the literacy rate was 95.5%. The government fully operates 158 of the 210 primary and secondary schools in The Bahamas. The other 55 schools are privately operated. Enrollment for state primary and secondary schools is 50,332, with more than 16,000 students attending private schools. Some public schools lack basic educational materials and are overcrowded. The Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) were the ones who acted to create some reform for their weakening education systems. The island has an Education Act that was revised in 1996 and is under control of the Prime Minister. As of 1996, the Education Act states that education is free for children between the ages of 5 and 16. The University of the Bahamas, established in Nassau in 1974, provides programs leading to bachelors and associate degrees. Several non-Bahamian colleges also offer higher education programs in The Bahamas. Generally, the academic year in The Bahamas goes from late August or early September to late May or early June for primary and secondary schools and late April/early May for college.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the Bahamas government ministry which oversees the foreign relations of Bahamas. The Current foreign affairs minister is the Honourable Darren Henfield, MP for North Abaco.
The following is an alphabetical list of topics related to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
The Bahamas Olympic Committee formerly the Bahamas Olympic Association is the National Olympic Committee representing the Bahamas. The committee is also the Commonwealth Games Association representing the island nation.
Bilateral relations exist between the People's Republic of China and the Bahamas. Diplomatic relations were established on May 23, 1997. Less than two months later, the Chinese government opened up an embassy in Nassau, on the island of New Providence. The government of The Bahamas has not established an embassy in Beijing, although in 1999 Dr. Arthur Foulkes was appointed the first non-resident ambassador. Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham became the first Bahamian head of government to visit China in 1997.
The Bahamas is a destination country for men and some women from Haiti and other Caribbean countries who are subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically forced labor, and, to a lesser extent, women from Jamaica and other countries who are in forced prostitution. Haitian trafficking victims are most likely to migrate to The Bahamas voluntarily, but subsequently be subjected to forced labor in agriculture, domestic service, or forced prostitution. Some employers coerce migrant workers – legal and illegal – to work longer hours, at lower pay, and in conditions not permitted under local labor law by changing the terms of employment contracts, withholding travel documents, refusing transportation back home, threatening to withdraw the employer-specific and employer-held permits, or threatening to have the employee deported through other means. Traffickers reportedly lure Jamaican and other foreign women to the Bahamas with offers of employment in the tourism and entertainment fields and subject the women to forced prostitution after their arrival. The Ministry of Education is investigating allegations that some high school girls in Eleuthera may be involved in a prostitution ring. This report is the only indication that Bahamian citizens may be victims of human trafficking.
Dame Doris Sands Johnson was a Bahamian teacher, suffragette, and politician. She was the first Bahamian woman to contest an election in the Bahamas, the first female Senate appointee, and the first woman granted a leadership role in the Senate. Once in the legislature, she was the first woman to be made a government minister and then was elected as the first woman President of the Senate. She was the first woman to serve as Acting Governor General of the Bahamas, and was honored as Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.
Bahamas–India relations refer to bilateral relations between The Bahamas and India. The Bahamas maintains an Honorary Consulate in New Delhi. The High Commission of India in Kingston, Jamaica concurrently accredited to The Bahamas. India does not have a resident diplomatic mission in The Bahamas.
The COVID-19 pandemic in the Bahamas was a part of the COVID-19 pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The outbreak was identified in Wuhan, Hubei, China, in December 2019, declared to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020, and recognised as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020. It was confirmed to have reached the Bahamas on 15 March 2020 with the announcement of the first case.
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