BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Grade Six students of the Irishtown Primary School will commence their secondary education in a matter of months, but they will do so with having been given insights into the world of work, expectations and possibilities.
The students – approximately 20 in number – today (July 3) participated in the learning institution’s first-ever Career Day which was held under the theme “Attitude determines our altitude”.
As part of the exercise, four members of the business community visited the school to speak to the students on a number of issues related to professionalism, career selection and education.
Just for the day, the students ditched their regular uniforms and wore clothing depictive of the career path they would have chosen for themselves. These included bank tellers, pharmacists, hairdressers, police officers, crossing guards and teachers.
Pearline Elmes of the Human Resource Department of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) spoke to the students about “Etiquette in the Workplace” and stressed on issues of deportment, attendance, punctuality and customer service.
The schools Guidance Counselor – Mrs. Watson – also addressed the pre-high school students. She spoke on the topic of “Career Choices” while Walwyn Chiverton, Executive Officer of the Social Security Board, spoke on “Esprit de corps and cooperation in the workplace”.
Some of the highlights of his presentation included communication, team spirit and initiative within the workplace.
Owner of KVK enterprises – Khrystus Wallace – dealt with “Entrepreneurship” and gave insight of how these pre-teenagers could set about creating and maintaining their own business.
One of the coordinators of the event – Joan Morris (Grade Two teacher) – told this media house that too often children enter the secondary stratum of education without even a clue as to what career path they are eying or even how to go about selecting the appropriate subjects to complement their career choice.
“We are doing this as a means of helping to mould the children in choosing their careers. We are also doing this as a guideline for them so that when they reach to high school they can be more focused on what they want to be and that they would take their education and work seriously.
“Career day is just a day that we take after the students would have completed their exams to give them some insight about the world of work, how it functions and being focused, working hard in school etc.”
Morris said the plan is to make this an annual event and she expressed the home that each student – from here on in – would heed whatever teachings he/she would receive.
“We are saying what the children learn here on Career Day, they would apply it when they go to high school in their school work, because when they get there that is when many challenges come. I hope they don’t just let these lessons fall on deaf ears and that they put it into practice, because it is of utmost importance to be focused in life.”
The Sixth Graders concluded their career day with a visit to the Taiwanese Agro-Processing Unit.
