Ministry

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Coat of arms of Sint MaartenGovernment of Sint Maarten
ECYS

Education, Culture, Youth & Sport

Ms. Melissa D. Gumbs

Ms. Melissa D. Gumbs· Minister of Education, Culture, Youth & Sport

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport funds and runs Sint Maarten's schools, student financing, and cultural, youth and sports programmes to build a lifelong-learning society.

2026 spending
Cg 0M
Own revenue
Cg 0M
Share of ministries
0%
Staffed
0%
Where it spends

Spending by cost category

  • Personnel costsCg 31M25%
  • Material costs, goods & servicesCg 16M13%
  • Transfers and subsidiesCg 75M60%
  • Scholarships and allowancesCg 4M3%
2026 → 2029

Spending outlook

20262029Cg 127M

Capacity to deliver

Staffing — posts actually filled81%
281 filledof 347 budgeted posts
What it plans to do

Strategic objectives

  1. 01Better integrate culture, sport and education with labor-market needs and strengthen secondary and vocational education (CAPE, IB, VWO, CVQ, SMVTS reform).
  2. 02Improve access to education and student development, financing compulsory public and subsidized education and expanding special and higher education.
  3. 03Improve learning outcomes for all students through the Education Supervision Ordinance, Education Council, examinations and innovation projects.
  4. 04Bring education, culture and sports facilities into better conformity with (international) standards via school, gym and library reconstruction.
  5. 05Professionalize the education, culture, youth and sport sectors (teacher conditions, job classification, special-education training, youth mainstreaming).
  6. 06Increase youth awareness and participation in society, sustaining compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Funded programmes

Key programmes & projects

Participation in education levels (subsidies to subsidized schools)Cg 71.1M

Students participate in primary, secondary, secondary vocational and higher education, with accountability and audit of subsidized entities.

Participation in public education (compulsory public education)Cg 22.0M

Students participate in compulsory public education within the Public Education Department.

Access to student financingCg 3.6M

Eligible students receive student financing and support to study abroad, providing access to further education.

Student School TransportCg 3.5M

Transport provided for students to and from school and extracurricular activities under the new school-bus policy.

Sport, Culture and Youth indoor facilities capital investmentCg 7.2M

Purchase of land and architectural drawings for new indoor facilities to expand access to sport, culture and youth development.

Cultural heritage and nation-building programmes (Objective 15)Cg 707k

Culture as an engine of development: publications, Sage Culture Awards, national holidays calendar, Monuments Fund and Culture Council to preserve and promote heritage.

Measured by

Indicators & targets

  • Projected budget increase 2025 to 2026
    Target: +2.9% to Cg 126 million
  • Share of personnel costs deployed for primary tasks
    Target: 80% (Cg 25 million)
  • Material costs as share of total costs
    Target: 75% of total (Cg 94.5 million); subsidies 60%, projects 6%, other 9%
  • Workforce occupancy (filled positions)
    Target: 81% of total workforce filled (281 of 347 FTEs)
What could go wrong

Key risks

  • Education: delays in recruiting staff and a persistent shortage of senior policy officers reduce productivity, increase sick leave and delay key outcomes (likelihood 4, impact 4).
  • Youth affairs: insufficient budget for policy development plus recruitment delays risk reduced access to services, non-compliance and rising social inequality (likelihood 5, impact 2).
  • Sport: continued reduction of the sports budget hinders investment in facilities, programmes and athlete development, with knock-on public-health costs (likelihood 5, impact 2).
  • Reconstruction Fund projects: high price inflation for goods and services threatens sustainable financing, mitigated by per-project spending caps and phasing (likelihood 3, impact 4).