BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FORTY-THREE students from four schools in Constituency Number Seven were on Tuesday (Nov. 25) awarded bursaries totalling $41 500 by their Parliamentary Representative and Leader of Team Unity, the Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris.
The Help A Child Programme, initiated by Dr. Harris in 2004, was held at the Liberty New Testament Church of God in Molineaux Extension under the theme “Hardworking, Caring and Delivers for the People”.
The Award Ceremony was hosted by Dr. Patrick Welcome who, in his welcome remarks, told the large gathering that included parents and guardians of the awardees and Parliamentary Representative of Constituency Number Eight, Hon. Eugene Hamilton, that Dr. Harris started the programme because of his love for the people in his Constituency.
“Over the last 10 years Dr. Harris has been making monetary contributions to the boys and girls from the schools in this Constituency. This is a programme that many people thought could never happen, but he proved them wrong. Willing to make it an embarrassment, they kicked him out of office and whispered to their friends and comrades that now is the last of him and they will no longer be willing to help the people of this Constituency. But with the help of God and the fearful nature of the man and his friends and supporters, to the 11th year the award ceremony is here again,” Dr. Welcome said.
He made reference to the difficulties Dr. Harris experienced as a child, whom he taught, and stressed that the programme was not started by Harris to win votes because it was during the period when he was a Minister in the Labour Party Government 10 years ago.
“If Dr. Harris is helping us so now, when he becomes the Prime Minister you will be better off,” Dr. Welcome elucidated in the packed house of worship, to which his audience responded with loud cheers and thunderous applauses.
In response to Dr. Harris’ generous gesture, students from the four schools as well as a number of parents said “thank you” in the form of songs, dance and poems.
While a group of students from the Joshua Obadiah Williams Primary and Estridge Primary Schools recited poems, one of which was entitled “Thank you for thinking about us”, a group from the Edgar T. Morris Primary School rendered a song and a lone female from the Violet Petty Primary School delivered a monologue laced with praises for Dr. Harris and artistic gesticulations of what he did and continues to do for the children in his Constituency.
Taking to the podium amidst a standing ovation, Dr. Harris thanked the parents and guardians for being present with the children and also the many donors, including Island Bakeries and Kajola Kristada, for making the annual event a success.
He charged the children to strive for excellence and told them that he cares and loves them, adding “I wish that each of you will fulfil your potential. I want you to make the best of your stint in primary school for it is an important platform on which to build. Your success in primary school can be the springboard to greater and better things”.
Dr. Harris admonished the parents and guardians to always be involved in their children’s school life and to be their guiding light in times of struggle.
“I hope through your child’s period of compulsory education you will be there as his or her best defender and protector, helping him or her through the ups and downs of school life. b Research has shown that children perform best when their parents are involved in their learning.”
He told them that the greater their involvement the better it would be for the children’s success, while encouraging them to be more involved in the Parent-Teacher Association meetings and extra curricula activities designed for the children.
“Very importantly,” he added, “maintain your children, encourage them to do their schoolwork, encourage positive views in them regarding their school and teachers. The more children love their school, the deeper interest they will have in exhibiting superb performance.”
He also told them to nurture their children’s confidence and self-esteem as well as to encourage them in their dreams to become poets, dancers lawyers, doctors, sportsmen and women, businessmen and even politicians.
Dr. Harris reflected on his early school days, noting that it was his teachers who made him what he is today, and thanked, among others, Mrs. Gilbert, Mavis Matthew, Carmen henry, Patricia Esdaille, Susan Lee, Vanta Archibald, Miss Mosquito and Edgar Morris.
He pointed out that teachers deserve the respect and support of parents and guardians as well as students and the wider community for their dedicated service in making their charges qualified and respectable citizens in any given country.
“Importantly, their government must value the work of our teachers, reward them well and ensure they provide them with safe and healthy spaces and environments in which to teach,” Harris said.
From a political standpoint, Harris said that Team Unity would work with the Teachers Union to make life better and superior for the nation’s teachers.
“They work hard…they are underpaid! They need a better pay package, health insurance and they deserve safe and secure schools in which to teach.”
The tri-party Political Leader asserted that Team Unity has pledged to support the teachers and provide them the best pay the nation could afford.
“We appreciate that many teachers spend quite a bit of their salary buying learning and teaching materials. As a consequence of a meeting which Team Unity held with the Teachers Union, we pledge to remove VAT from all learning and teaching supplies. This will relieve you of the burden of having to spend the little which you have on teaching and learning aids.”
Dr. Harris told the parents and guardians that Team Unity would also assist them by removing VAT from food, medicine, funeral expenses and supplies for the disabled, among others.
He ended his address to the awardees saying: “The poor must never be denied access to food because of high taxes. And when we are overtaxed on medicines and medication, the State then becomes a danger to our health and wellness."
Since the commencement of the Help A Child Programme in 2004, Dr. Harris has awarded $140 000 to 280 students from his Constituency, and one member of the Organising Committee said the programme had convinced them that if they wanted to help young people, the best way was to give them a gift of education because it is the passport to a better future.
