Basseterre, St. Kitts, May 10, 2010 (SKNIS): After school activities outlined in the White Paper are going well in primary schools through St. Kitts.

Government Cameras were on hand to capture students participating in activities including dancing, art and craft, gardening enhancement, physical fitness and drama a requisite of the White Paper.

Education Officials noted that the policies of the Ministry of Education that all children and young people have the right to enjoy a healthy, happy and safe life. They should be afforded a high level of love and should be valued and respected at all times; they should be encouraged to have high aspirations for their future. Hence Government cameras visited the Edgar T. Morris and the Violet Petty primary schools to capture students participating in various after-school projects, who then shared their thoughts on the activities.

Creative, fun and exciting were the most dominant adjectives used by the participants to describe the impact the activities had on them. One male student of the Edgar T. Morris Primary School stated that he felt anxious before trying dance but after he found that he was fond of it.

A female student of that said school noted that she was able to express herself through that art form. A young man of the Violet Petty Primary School expressed that his involvement in drama was a step towards theater as a career.

Literature from the White Paper Document states that physical education and school sport focuses on the body, its movement and physical development.  It is believed that improvement in physical competence enhances self-confidence, self-esteem, engagement and behaviour, as well as, improved educational attainment by generating more positive attitudes to learning. 

Research suggests that physical education and school sport provides the skills, understanding and confidence for engagement in activity, which is the basis for healthy, enjoyable and active lifestyles. Physical education and sport supplies the integrated growth of mind and body.

The educators who facilitated the projects emphasized that activities not relating to academic skills were geared at promoting positivity in students and that attaining a skill provides avenues for financial gain in a tourism dependent economy.

According to documentation in the White Paper Government’s mission in promoting a multifaceted after-school programme, exposing students to a range of activities and settings is to develop well-rounded and self-sufficient persons who would positively contribute to the society.

The education developments and policies outlined are intended to chart the way forward and provide guidance for the activities of the Ministry of Education for the next ten years (2009-2019).