MINISTERIAL STATEMENT HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
Minister of Education Youth, Sport and Library Services- Hon. Akierra Missick
Tuesday 27th January 2015
1. SALUTATIONS: NEW YEAR GREETINGS
Mr. Speaker as I rise to give my first statement for the New Year. I am cognizant of how thankful we all should be to have made it to see the year 2015. Mr. Speaker it is with this spirit of thankfulness that I stand to first give New Year greetings to you Mr. Speaker, the members of this Honorable House, those in the gallery, those listening by radio, the members of the entire Ministry and their families and of course Mr. Speaker the members of my constituency.
2. SYMPATHIES:
Mr. Speaker, I join the other members in extending sympathies to all those who have lost loved ones over the past weeks since we last met. (Dr. Rosita Butterfield, Oletta Robinson- Harrison) sister of former Minister and others)
I want the families to know that our thoughts and prayers are with them at this time.
3. EDUCATION DEPARTMENT:UPDATE
Mr. Speaker, as you know school reopened successfully with all teachers back in place on January 5th. A number of workshops marked the start of what is called the Hilary term. ( I will mention them below) Mr. Speaker during this term we will host the National Primary School Spelling Bee this is carded for February 12th and 13th . We expect to also host a creative writing workshop and a teaching of math workshop. Both workshops will be supported by the Jubilee Fund which is administered from the Governor’s Office. We will update the house further on these activities including the upcoming Education Week exercises and the annual School Sports Competition
3.A DONATION FROM FISHING TOURNAMENT HJROBINSON
Mr. Speaker you might have already heard that the HJRobinson High School benefitted greatly from a donation from the Grand Turk Fishing Tournament committee . We thank the committee for this donation of thirty computers and we know that this will be aligned to our own project to upgrade IT in all schools. The CITU (formerly computer unit) is also to be acknowledged for their cooperation in ensuring the room was ready for operation
4. UNICEF SPONSORED WORKSHOPS
Mr. Speaker over the past two weeks we conducted two workshops which were sponsored by UNICEF and DFID. Both workshops are part of our overall objective to strengthen elements of our sector. The Developmental Surveillance and Screening Workshop for Early Childhood Education teachers and providers took place on January 12th to 14th and the main goal was to expose participants to features of designing effective screening and early intervention for children at risk. In the end this exposure will help participants contribute to our strengthening of this important sector. We all recognize the importance of Early Childhood Education to building a foundation on which children learn.
In the same vein UNICEF sponsored the workshop on Administrative Data Systems for Early Childhood Development education; this information will help advance effort to help monitor the survival, development, education and protection of children in this sector. A draft plan with clearly defined actions to improve our overall approach is one outcome of this training. Mr. Speaker both initiatives address strategic imperative 6 of our National Education Sector, five year plan aimed at the Early Childhood Education Sector.
4 a. 11th EDF CONSULTATIONS:
Mr. Speaker for the next four weeks beginning Monday 19th consultants will be working with the Education Sector and other stakeholders to prepare documents and ensure that they are in the quality required for the programming of the OCT’s 11th EDF territorial allocation, which is aimed at Education Sector Reform. Mr. Speaker this consultation will provide the technical assistance to TCIG to be able to benefit from a sizeable EU fund allocation.
5. YOUTH DEPARTMENT
Mr. Speaker the Youth Department is again working with the Scholarship Secretariat and Beaches Foundation to conduct another Apprentice Program. This initiative fulfills the youth policy objective aimed at providing opportunities for development and employment for young people.
This initiative was very successful in the last year with over 40 young persons participating in training in various areas of the hotel industry. This as you know is an integral part of our overall tourism thrust. Mr. Speaker the program exposes our young people to help them gain an appreciation for the industry and to be able to state with confidence that they have had exposure to many areas as far as hotel management goes.
Mr. Speaker the program is aimed at graduates who are not currently working nor attending College, the program will run for six months and applicants will receive a weekly stipend to assist with living expenses. The feedback from last year’s participants was that the experience was rewarding and many have found jobs within the industry based on their involvement in the program. We are encouraging all young people who meet the criteria to sign up, more information is available from the Ministry, Beaches and Youth Department.
5.a YOUTH PARLIAMENT:
Mr. Speaker we promised to keep everyone updated on the progress of the introduction of Youth Parliament. Mr. Speaker work is progressing with the recent formation of the National Youth Parliamentary Committee. The Youth Department in collaboration with the House of Assembly and this newly formed committee will work toward hosting of a Youth Parliament. This initiative is to ensure, as per the youth policy that young people have a voice in decision making at all levels.
6. DEPARTMENT OF SPORT:
Mr. Speaker I want to congratulate two of our athletes who continue to make strides. Mr. Angelo Garland and Ifeanyi Otuonye have national records over the past two weeks. Mr. Garland broke the 400m record with a time of 48.44 seconds at a recent meet – Texas A&M invitational. On Saturday 24th January Mr. Otuonye broke the previous record held by Darian Forbes in a time of 20.69 seconds. (Darren’s record was 21.78) congratulations to them both.
Mr. Speaker we have entered the very active sports season and we are looking forward to the engagement of a number of our NGBS particularly in field of basketball. Mr. Speaker I will take the time just to mention a few of the sporting activities the public is invited to support.
• Rising Star Sport Club youth development Basketball
• Female Basketball development
• PABA nightly league
• Filipinos Basketball and Volleyball competition
• Rugby under 19 male and female inter Island development competition
• Secondary schools Female Softball Competition Friday 30th and 30th January
• We are also getting ready for Secondary Schools National Track & Field Competition March 8th, 9th & 10th, 2015
• Secondary Schools Volleyball Competition March 30th & 31, 2015
• CARIFTA Track & Field – ST Kitts & Nevis – April 3rd – 6th, 2015
• CARIFTA Swim – Barbados – April 3rd – 8th
6a.SWIM CARIFTA:
Mr. Speaker I mentioned the dates for CARIFTA and I wish to inform the House that this year we will participate in the swim competitions of CARIFTA. Laura Shaw the athlete for CARIFTA Swim took part in a meet in the USA representing TCI Swim Federation and improved on her personal best in the 50m breast, and 100m back. Her personal best pushed her into the B group for competition. She continues to take part in invitational meet to improve her time for CARIFTA in April.
TURKS AND CAICOS COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Mr. Speaker from recent statements you would have heard that the Community College was to expand its offerings in technical and vocational areas. Mr. Speaker the college recently purchased over 40,000 worth of new material and equipment for teaching in technical areas. This project was funded through the Ministry of Education and as soon as these are fitted in place the public will be invited to view.
Mr. Speaker once again I wish everyone the very best for 2015 and thank you for the opportunity.
