Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 25, 2013 (SKNIS): The Ministry of Education continues to stay focused on the prospects of providing scholarships and maintaining school facilities said Minister of Education the Hon. Nigel Carty at the recent press conference.
The expansion of opportunities for young people to advance themselves academically is one of the Ministry’s top priorities, stated Minister Carty.
“We’ve had discussions with the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) through the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC) and we have now arrived at a point where we are ready to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for 25 persons, on an annual basis, to get scholarships and to gain entry into the UVI.”
He added that a similar project is ongoing with Monroe University of New York, United States, which also has a campus in St. Lucia.
“Essentially what they are saying is that if the government was to provide a sum of money for support of students, say EC$5,000 per student, they would match that funding and that will of course facilit
ate the students.”
Another top priority area is the maintenance of the school facilities. Minister Carty explained that the concerns of the students, teachers and parents have been addressed.
“We have now gotten to the root of the problem and we are now assembling a maintenance team,” he announced. “We have divided the country into three zones and each of those zones will have a maintenance team retained permanently to ensure that these issues do not arise in the continuing future.”
There is also an ongoing focus on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
“We believe it’s the way of the future,” Minister Carty remarked. “We believe that the black history curriculum is an important addition to awake the consciousness of the students and to facilitate this moving away of our young people from crime and drugs. We believe that this is critically important.”