St. Kitts – Nevis PM Wishes Students Success
Photo By Erasmus Williams
Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
May 07, 2009 (CUOPM)
As nearly 3,000 students in St. Kitts and Nevis prepare to write Caribbean-set examinations, they are getting encouragement from the Federation’s leading servant of the people.
“I want to challenge them (students) to be focused. Focused, so that they go on to the universities and colleges and acquire the necessary skills, professional or otherwise so that they can make a contribution in the continued transformation and development of St. Kitts and Nevis,” said Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas in closing remarks during his weekly radio programme “Ask the Prime Minister” on Tuesday.
In encouraging the students to study hard and seize the opportunities that are being created by his caring Labour Party administration, Prime Minister Douglas, himself a former teacher, called on students to make their parents proud.
“They have worked hard for you over these years, they have stood beside you. You do not know the sacrifices that your parents have made so that you can receive an education, that many of them did not have the opportunity and privilege of having,” said Dr. Douglas.
“I made a statement at the end of the Labour Day March, that it was the hard work of our First National Hero, The Right Excellent Sir Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw, that made education available no longer for the few and the privileged, but it became basically a right of every student in this country to have a Secondary Education in 1966,” said Prime Minister Douglas, who informed students, “things were not as they are today. They were completely different in the days of your parents.”
Dr. Douglas used the opportunity to ask parents to ensure that they provide the support that is necessary to their children, other students and teachers.
“I ask the leaders of our communities, of our country in the various areas of leadership, to continue to lend support to our students today, and in future,” said the Prime Minister, who also thanked the church leaders for saying special prayers for the students.
“I want to thank the church for the prayers that they have organised with the various congregations on Sunday and through this week, and next week for those who are writing their examinations,” said Dr. Douglas.
“I hope that our students will succeed, not only academically, but succeed in learning basically the principles and values of life, that are going to be necessary for them to succeed in the future,” he said.
Education official told the Communications Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister (CUOPM) on Thursday that 1,412 students will write the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) at 14 centres; 522 students will write the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) and 1003 students, the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competency CCSLC).