March 17th, 2020 -- On Feb 19th, 2020 the Organization of the Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Ministers of Education delegation visited the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC) as part of their 5th meeting of the heads under the theme “Equity and Access”. CFBC was selected as a focal point of this gathering as an opportunity for us to showcase our innovation and creativity through our Hospitality Department, Health Sciences Division and ICT program, SKN Robotics team.
The delegation included participants from the independent member states of the OECS as well as British dependent territories. This visit placed us in a position to be viewed by the region and the world as a premier higher education institution and to showcase learning in practice. We demonstrated our ability to respond to real world challenges with the latter being heavily displayed by our Health Sciences Division and the SKN Robotics team.
As part of their presentation to the delegates, the Robotics team displayed their humanoid project and 3D printed mobile prosthetics, a feat that is a first for the OECS. They also demonstrated their crop-dusting drone technology which aims to reduce the costs associated with aerial crop-dusting while still providing an efficient solution. At the Health Sciences Division, the student nurses and their lecturers demonstrated the use of technology in nursing practice through several scenarios, one of which was an accident victim. The delegates were able to observe the scenarios as well as learn more about our state-of-the-art skills lab that the nursing students utilize as central to their learning environment.
Host, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Honorable Shawn K. Richards; was intrigued by the college’s programs. The delegates enjoyed a scrumptious lunch curated by the Hospitality department, who also commended CFBC on the strides being made. Director General of the OECS, Dr. Didacus Jules, stated that he was delighted by the presentations at CFBC as they highlighted the importance for the member states to develop their own innovative projects.
Dr. Jacqueline Austin, CFBC President, highlighted the benefits of the visit to the College. Dr. Austin explained that having the opportunity to engage with high level decision makers was a game-changer for CFBC and its students as it offered the unique opportunity for us to express our needs directly to those who are the influencers. She also stressed that while CFBC was a focal point of the visit, the benefits extended to Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis as we were able to draw attention to the fact that while we may be a small island developing state confronted with resource constraints, we are still able to signal to the world that we have wealth in our human resource and that education has a transformational effect on our society.
The Ministers pledged to continue their dialogue on substantive issues regarding educational development in the OECS as well as the policies and strategies needed to advance the implementation of the OECS Education Sector Strategy.
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