Mr. Chesley Manners
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Human Resources Mr. Chesley Manners, called on Nevisians who wished to pursue studies abroad to take advantage of opportunities available to them at learning institutions in the Region and not be swayed by the glamour of television, to pursue studies further a field.
Mr. Manners made the comment during an interview with the Department of Information on May 16, 2008.
“We must make the appeal and it must be a passionate appeal for our students to attend our regional institutions especially when it’s not necessary to go further afield. Of course you know that there are good institutions far and wide but I think it is important that we send the message that we have a regional institution that we must support, our governments have to support it and we must encourage our youngsters to go there.
“We have students of course on the three campuses at Mona, St. Augustine and Cave Hill and we want to see more students coming on board because our regional institution the University of the West Indies, delivers quality training and we get a unique opportunity to be drawn closer to our brothers and sisters from some of the other islands and this can enhance the integration movement,” he contended.
With regard to the opportunities available in Cuba, Mr. Manners was of the view that Nevisians were passing up a unique educational opportunity that was offered by the Cuban government.
“I find that Nevisians have not been readily taking advantage of the educational opportunities that are offered by the Cuban government and they offer a very solid mix. We get offers in psychology, veterinary medicine, well medicine in general that’s one of their strong points.
“I think this year they were offering five scholarships in medicine to the Federation, sports you know different areas because they are trying to promote balanced development and our people have not been really accessing the opportunities that have been offered to us by Cuba and we are hoping that that would improve,” he said.
He said other islands of the Caribbean had been taking advantage of the educational opportunities available from Cuba and graduates from that learning experienced had turned out to be excellent professionals and who had the opportunity to get a better grasp of life.
“We have dentists and we have doctors, we have people who are functioning in so many different areas and Cuba of course gives us the opportunity to understand what life is all about, that there is something in life called sacrifice.
“I think after the Cuban experience we would be able to look at life the way we ought to be able to analyse life constructively because sometimes we are after what we see on the television the glamour coming from the US and so on but that is not what life is all about. Life is about being true to yourself and also appreciating who you are and of course making sure we promote what we have in our region so that we can grow from strength to strength,” he said.
At present Nevis students assisted by the NIA amount to over 30 in the region including Cuba, United States Virgin Islands and the University of the West Indies and over 40 students outside of the region.