For the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. Denzil Douglas, the success of the program is an indication of just how “bright and energetic our young people are”.
Douglas said his Government is determined to provide the kinds of opportunities that will allow young people, most of whom made up the list of participants for the workshop, to develop their talents, pursue new and fascinating options, and generally, hold their own in an increasingly technological world.
The Prime Minister was heard on Tuesday, 31st January, 2012, during his weekly radio program, praising the spirit and determination of over 80 young people who made maximum use of the iCAN Mobile App Development Workshop that was hosted by the Government, through the Ministry of Youth Empowerment and Information Technology.
It was hosted at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort last week.
Prime Minister Douglas in his reaction to the workshop said his administration wants nationals to be able to design, develop and promote applications for smart devices that run the Apple, Android, and Blackberry platform.
He said if St. Kitts and Nevis is going to need these applications, and if someone has to design and develop these applications, why not our own people? “This Government does not believe that our people must be consumers at all times, and in all circumstances. No!
Kittitians and Nevisians can design. We can develop. And we can promote what we design and develop, too!” Prime Minister Douglas said during Ask the Prime Minister.
According to the facilitators of the workshop, BrightPath out of Trinidad & Tobago, after conducting these sessions throughout the Caribbean, St. Kitts and Nevis was the first place that participants were able to come up, not with one, not with two, but with three applications at the end of the workshop. All of the other islands, much larger, many more schools, many more students, have been coming up with one application. But St. Kitts and Nevis managed three.
Prime Minister Douglas boasted, “This is where the energy, the productivity, and the talent just simply shone. As a matter of fact, I should mention that the dynamism and imagination of our young people last week was such that BrightPath’s facilitators had to modify their iCAN workshop to accommodate the creativity they were encountering.”
The young participants, among them high school students, came up with three applications:
A “Time to Plant” application that will provide important information as to how and when to plant, and care for, various crops; a “Where to Eat” application that will focus on the Federation’s fine dining establishments, their menus, and the type of information that would be of interest to prospective patrons; and an anonymous crime-reporting application “I See U” all to be uploaded to the Android Market.
“The “Where to Eat” and “Time to Plant” applications, is expected to be launched in two weeks. And the more complicated “I See U” application, which was successfully demonstrated at the workshop, after additional discussions with various entities have been completed.
“Imagination is what it is all about. New approaches to old challenges,” Prime Minister Douglas told listeners to his program.