A press release issued by the St. Kitts Nevis Information Service (SKNIS), informs that the newest member of the Government’s Education Team, Dr. Tricia Esdaille, said she looked forwards to the launch of the project’s first phase and underscored its importance.
“According to Dr. Esdaille – a psychologist by profession – Ministry officials have made no qualms about the importance of the project locally, which is now a priority, as they seek to ensure a peaceful atmosphere in schools and maintain the Federation’s outstanding performance in education,” the release stated.
Dr. Esdaille noted that five schools: the Verchilds, Cayon, and Basseterre High Schools as well as the Charles E Mills and Charlestown Secondary Schools have been chosen as locations to conduct the implementation of the pilot project which will run for one year.
She further explained that the first phase of the project would include an assessment of the Schools’ Climate, Risk Behaviours and Needs. This will be conducted via surveys that will determine students’ and school employees’ experiences. The first survey will be carried out at the Charles E. Mills Secondary School at Sandy Point.
The Psychologist emphasized that the interventions in each school following the surveys will be tailor-made, based on the issues relevant to the particular educational institution. “This is not a one size fits all policy,” Dr. Esdaille expressed. “The information once collected will be shared with the appropriate officials, staff and students of the schools and fine tuned to meet their specific needs.”
Once the interventions have been implemented the data will then be assessed to determine what works, what does not work and what needs to be changed.
The project will expand to all Government-run secondary schools in the Federation and then continue to the primary schools. The programme will in the long term become part of the normal curricula.
Dr. Esdaille said that while preparatory meetings have been held over a number of months, the survey is the first actual hands-on activity of the project.
(Parts of this article were written with content submitted in a SKNIS press release)