Overcrowding has worsened in public schools across New Providence, but particlarly in the southern division, where some institutions are accommodating double the number of students they were designed to facilitate, Education Director Lionel Sands told The Nassau Guardian this week.
Among the schools whose student populations are booming are Sadie Curtis Primary School, Cleveland Eneas Primary School, Garvin Tynes Primary School, Gerald Cash Primary School, Anatol Rodgers Hight School, C.V. Bethel High School and S.C. McPherson Junior High School.
Sands said each of those schools was designed to accommodate a maximum of 700 students, however, each school has more than 1,100 students registered.
Sands said 1,400 students attend C.V. Bethel and S.C. McPherson High Schools; and 1,300 attend Anatol Rodgers High School.
"We have overcrowding in southwest and southeast New Providence," Sands told The Nassau Guardian. "They have exceeded their capacity in terms of housing the maximum amount of students that are available for those schools.
"What happens is this will invariably increase the class size which, of course, is not the ideal thing for us.
"But of course, the reality is there has been a shift in population from the northern part of the island to the southern part of the island...creating the overcrowding in the south and there has not been, over the years, a recurrent building of schools as we establish these various communities in the southern part of the island."
In addition to the population shift, Sands said hundreds of students who were previously enrolled in various private schools have transferred to public institutions this school year.
Sands said the ministry has attempted to transfer some of the students to schools that are not as crowded. However, he said it is difficult to transfer students to schools outside of the area where they live.
"We can move students to some of the schools in the north where there are spaces available but when you're talking about moving first graders, that's a big problem," he said.
And while there is a serious need for the construction of additional schools, Sands said there is little money in the treasury to fund new schools.
The Ministry of Education controls 160 schools throughout the country. Approximately 53,000 students attended public schools this week.

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