Charlestown Nevis (February 4, 2005) -- Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education in the Federal Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, the Hon Mr Sam Condor has said that education of the nations children is the supreme duty of the government and has undertaken to give teachers on Nevis every support and encouragement that they need.
 |
|
Meeting in the office of the Principal Education Officer: From left, Mr Osmond Petty, Mrs Jennifer Hodge, Hon Sam Condor and Mr Elvin Bailey. |
We want to dialogue with you, to make sure that we get the best out of the system for our children, observed Mr Condor, who was accompanied by his Permanent Secretary, Mr Osmond Petty.
After having been the minister for only three months, basically I am just getting to know whats happening, learning all the details so that I could make the best contribution that I can make in terms of supporting you and making sure that our children benefit from the education system, affirmed the Education Minister.
He challenged the teachers in Nevis to give him suggestions, advice and comments that would help to improve the delivery of education, saying that teachers in St. Kitts did not feel that they had any monopoly on ideas about how the schools should operate.
We want to solicit your views because we are in it together and the main purpose is to improve the system, because as good as it is, there is always room for improvement. These are challenging and critical times and if we are to keep pace with what is happening globally, then we always have to be viewing and revising and rethinking what it is that we are doing, because we are living in a changing environment.
 |
|
Acting Principal Mr Keith Glasgow of the Gingerland Secondary School (right) introduces, Mr Elvin Bailey, Hon Sam Condor and Mr Osmond Petty to the school faculty and members of the student council. |
He pointed out that the new international economic order, that includes the World Trade Organisation, and the hemispheric arrangements in terms of the Caricom Single Market and Economy would demand even greater efforts from the education system, because the nations children need to be better prepared if St. Kitts and Nevis was to compete effectively and efficiently with the rest of the world.
The Caricom Single Market and Economy for example, he said, would call for the free movement of capital and labour and that people from the region would be coming to the Federation to compete with the local children for jobs. These jobs, said Mr Condor, would be made available to the best qualified, best trained and the best prepared persons.
We have to make sure that we give our children the best preparation to give them the best chance of succeeding, advised the Education Minister. We want to let you know that we will offer you any support you need to make sure that that happens. We want to offer the best support so that you could deliver a quality education system for our children.
The Deputy Prime Minister arrived in Charlestown in the morning and proceeded to the Department of Education at Marion Heights, where he first held a closed door meeting with the Principal Education Officer, Mrs Jennifer Hodge and the Permanent Secretary for Education, Mr Elvin Bailey.
He later held a meeting with all education officers and according to him, we had a very good discussion about the way forward, trying to address the situation that is bugging all of us - the disaffected youths. He also visited the University of the West Indies Distance Centre.
From Marion Heights, accompanied by Mr Elvin Bailey, Mr Condor paid a courtesy call on the Hon Premier and Minister for Education, Mr Vance Amory at his Bath Hotel office. They discussed a number of issues to do with education, which according to Mr Condor, we hope to carry on for sometime in the future.
Mr Condor later travelled to the Gingerland Secondary School where he met with the staff and the newly elected Students Council. In the afternoon he visited the Charlestown Secondary School and a number of primary schools, before he left for St. Kitts saying that the visit has been very edifying for me, and very satisfying, I am particularly pleased that I am here and I am looking forward to continue this dialogue on a continuous basis.
