 |
| (L-R) Mr Elvin Bailey Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education on Nevis, Mr Robert Morris of the Project Management Unit in St. Kitts and Mr Jorge Mesa and Ms Cynthia Hobbs of the World Bank during their visit to the Charlestown Secondary School. |
CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (March 7, 2006) -- A two member World Bank mission visited Nevis on Friday March 3, 2006 to assess the state of progress of the activities being executed in Nevis, under the Organisation of East Caribbean States (OECS) Education Reform Project.
The team comprised of Ms Cynthia Hobbs, leader and Mr Jorge Mesa who were accompanied by Mr Robert Morris of the Project Management Unit in St. Kitts, visited the Charlestown Secondary School (CSS), the Reading Recovery Centre at Marion Heights and the Gingerland Secondary School (GSS).
Mr Elvin Bailey Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education who accompanied the team during the visit, expressed gratitude on behalf of the NIA for the World Bank's assistance to provide quality education on Nevis. "I want to place on record my thanks on behalf of the Nevis Island Administration to the World Bank for their interest in the development of education here on Nevis," he said.
At the CSS, the team visited the site of the Caribbean development Bank funded new wing, and Mr Bailey explained that though the World Bank was not involved in the funding of the new wing currently under construction, "there is some US$200,000 available for furniture and equipment for the school that is conditional upon the construction of the new wing. So their interest was to see how far progress has been made towards erecting the new wing at Charlestown Secondary School."
Before visiting the site, the team met with Deputy Principal Mr Kelvin Dailey and Supervisor of the Multi Purpose Centre Mr Dwight Morton.
At Marion Heights the Mission looked at the Reading Recovery Centre which Mr Bailey explained would hopefully be in full operation shortly. He said the Centre would facilitate the training of teachers on how to recognise reading difficulties and how to best work with students on a one on one basis, if needed, to correct the reading difficulties.
At the Centre the team met with Mrs Palsy Wilkin Reading Recovery Specialist in the Department of Education.
Over at GSS where works including the rehabilitation of the Science Lab, the Computer Lab, the Home Economics Centre and the creation of two guidance counselling rooms had already been executed under the project, Mr Bailey said that the team looked at the completed works to satisfy themselves that the work had been done as expressed in the contract.
The team also looked at areas of teacher appraisal, teacher training through scholarships, curriculum development, Education Management Information Systems and a programme of working with disadvantaged youth namely the Reading Recovery Programme.
According to Mr Bailey, on Monday March 6, 2006, he met with the Mission in St. Kitts to discuss the future of the project "and to generally vent on how we saw the works helping in the delivery of high quality education in St Kitts and Nevis, and in Nevis in particular."
