Basseterre, St. Kitts, February 01, 2013 (SKNIS): The Honourable Nigel Carty, Minister of Education and Information and most recently Agriculture, outlined some of upcoming initiatives of his ministries during a Cabinet Press Conference held on January 31, in the Parliamentary Lounge.
One mentioned area of focus was Curriculum Revision and Development which will improve the success rate of students in the Federation.
“For quite some time, people in the country have been talking about the success rate of our students in primary school particularly in the areas of mathematics and English,” said Minister Carty. “We believe that we have to take a hard long look at what we are doing to ensure that the curriculum remains relevant but at the same time reaches a level that inspires success among our students and our teachers.”
Minister Carty added that the ministry has been looking into an Education Foundation which is expected to generate significant inflows of money to help with the maintenance of schools.
“[The maintenance of schools] is an area of concern to many in recent times and so we expect this [Foundation] to be launched this year,” the Minister expressed. “We also expect to see a full implementation of a maintenance team for all of our schools so we are not in the business of extinguishing fires but rather its prevention. We also want to make sure that our bathrooms and rooms are secure and safe for all of our people.”
As for the Ministry of Agriculture, the Minister spoke on the distribution of land and assistance of young persons interested in becoming farmers.
“We believe that land preparation assistance is critically important because many of these young farmers don’t have the [means] to prepare the land for themselves,” He explained. This is despite the regimes which have existed in terms their getting concessions on certain materials.”
In a subsequent interview, the Minister revealed to SKNIS that another initiative is aquaculture also known as aqua farming. This is the cultivation of fresh and saltwater organisms, such as fish, under controlled conditions.
Minister Carty expressed that with the help of his colleagues all these initiatives will come into fruition.