The number of teachers at the primary school level declined last year compared to the previous year.
The latest Economic and Social Survey shows that in 2017/2018, teachers in public sector primary institutions numbered 9,560 compared with 9,834 in the 2016/17 school year, while the average pupil to teacher ratio was 25 to 1.
Students enrolled in primary schools in 2017/18 numbered 236,159, a decline of 2.4 per cent compared with 2016/17.
Meanwhile, the qualification of teachers in the public education system has improved with the percentage of trained graduates increasing to 71.7 per cent in 2017/18 from 63.7 per cent in 2014.
The report showed that the teaching profession was dominated by women at the primary level, accounting for 88.2 per cent of the total.
The survey also revealed that the number of students enrolled in secondary institutions declined by 1.3 per cent last year when compared to 2016/17.
There were just over 214,000 students. Of this number, 4,137 were enrolled in private schools.
There was also a decline in the number of teachers in this category - 12,669 teachers were employed in the 347 public schools offering secondary level education, compared with 12, 834 in 2016/17.
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