BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – NEWLY appointed Minister of Education, Hon. Sen. Nigel Carty, insists that he is capable of successfully leading the ministry through the challenges confronting it over the next five years.
“As an academically trained person, I have had exposure in education at all levels. I have taught primary, secondary and tertiary. I worked in the Education Planning Division,” Carty noted.
“With all of that, familiarity, although important, to my mind is not the most important factor in what I have. I think it is the ability to listen to those who are a part of the system, who have been playing their own role as leaders – the teachers, the principals and the education planners. As long as they’re fit and able, I would want to collaborate on what they think is best for the education system.”
Carty was first appointed as a senator in the 2004-2009 Labour Party Cabinet, serving as a Junior Minister in Education, Youth and Information Technology. He was promoted to a full minister with responsibility for Education and IT in the 2010 version of the party’s Cabinet.
Speaking to SKNVibes earlier this week, the new education head said that although the sector is facing several challenges, he is still highly optimistic about the progress it would make over the next decade.
“We have made great strides in education in terms of infrastructure and we need to build on those. We have the white paper on education policy and development that contains our vision until 2020. All we have to do is implement and make adaptations to it, but what I see as most urgently needed is ongoing assessment and evaluation at all levels.
“I have become aware that we need more resources at every level of the education sector. There must be more evaluation of teachers and more management of the system. We need to ensure our students are tested thoroughly and periodically, and that all those who hold important positions of trust can be used for important decision-making processes as we go forward.”
In deference to the “increased responsibility” of his new portfolios, Carty admitted he would most likely end his regular appearances on radio station WINN FM’s weekly “Inside the News” programme, after serving as the Labour representative for the past four years.
He said the WINN FM management had already been notified that his party was re-evaluating its position.
“What I would seek to do is have a partnership with a number of other persons to appear a couple of times a month. I would want other persons to share their views and opinions, but certainly I would only want to make interventions when they’re necessary,” he stressed.
