Honorable Colleagues in the Council of Ministers,
Members of the Media,
People of our beloved St. Martin,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good Morning.
Let me begin by announcing that the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs will be closed to the public this Friday, February 10th, due to our annual retreat which will be held on that day. You will recall that last year, we began with the retreat as a forum for ALL members of the Ministry to get together, share their respective plans for the year, strategize together, and brainstorm to find ways to function more efficiently and effectively, always with the aim of improving our service to the community. The theme of the retreat this year is: "Planning, Accountability and Team Building in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs."
On a sad note, I am distressed about reports of violence among our students. The recent stabbing incident on a school bus is a stark reminder that this problem is much bigger than we may have initially thought and has deep roots in our social make-up. It is not a problem for the schools alone to tackle: it calls for a concerted collective effort which should start with responsible parenting, and include the churches, social organizations, etc. It is probably time that we seek such a comprehensive approach to dealing with this cankerworm. I will be making specific proposals shortly that would involve all the various groups coming together to finding a way out of this quagmire. It has always been a basic assumption that our students must feel safe boarding a bus to go to school. We will do all in our power to ensure that this remains so.
Still on the issue of schools, I recently paid unscheduled visits to a couple of schools to see for myself the state of affairs as it concerns the learning environment of students in those schools. The reports reaching me indicate that there is a systemic and structured need for proper maintenance of our public schools. This is being worked on by an inter-ministerial group as we speak. However, I have met with the staff of the Division of Public Education Services in an attempt to make sure that plans are put in place for regular, efficient, and structured maintenance of all our schools.
This brings me to another related matter. A total of 235 applications have been received for Study Financing at the closure of the process in December. Almost half of this – 106 to be precise – are for The Netherlands, while there are 62 applicants for the US. Some 67 applications were received for studies in the region, including Aruba, Curacao, and St. Martin.
The Division of Study Financing is now processing all the applications, following which it will submit its findings to the Study Financing Committee before it gets to my desk for final approval.
In connection with this, I wish to inform you that a young St. Martin student, Jagdeo Gumbs, is now at the Monroe College in New York, as the first recipient of a full scholarship from the College resulting from the Memorandum of Understanding we signed with that institution last year. Mr. Gumbs left to further his studies at Monroe College last month. I am confident that other deserving students will soon follow in his footsteps.
I wish to emphasize that it is not only about sending our students abroad to study, we are working very hard to put in place initiatives to bring them back after they conclude their studies. We will be working in close collaboration with other ministries and the private sector to review our priorities list for study financing and to come up with effective means of luring them back to the island. Definitely, what we cannot continue to do is to finance their studies for other countries which may not need them as much as we do, to take advantage of their newly-acquired expertise. St. Martin needs its own to return to build the new nation we all want for our future generations.
I wish to also take this opportunity to remind you that this Saturday, we will be kicking off the activities for the celebration of this year's Rights of the Child, under the theme: "Rights of the Child, not an option, but an obligation."
The events will be held in collaboration with the St. Maarten Early Childhood Association, Day Care and Early Stimulation Centers. We will be having a parade on Saturday starting at 10:00am from the Board Walk at Sea Palace Hotel through Front Street to the Sundial School where the activities will continue with a festival for children ages 0-4 years consisting of storytelling, face painting, puppet show and sports. Special presentations by the children will also take place.
In the area of Sports, we are now in the final stages of establishing a Sports Foundation which will be charged with executing our Sports policy, including the upkeep of our sports facilities. I will inform you accordingly as soon as this is completed.
You will also recall that we recently played host to a group with connections to the Washington Redskins interested in setting up a Youth Football Camp, possibly this summer. I'm sure you would have noticed the tremendous interest shown on the island in the Super Bowl. (By the way, congratulations to the Giants' fans). This proposal is being worked out in close collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Tourism with which we hosted the 9-member group during their site inspection a couple of weeks ago. We are convinced this will be a very positive addition to sports and youth development and everything is being done to ensure its success.
With regards to Culture, we are also on the brink of setting up a Monuments' Council which will advise the Minister on issues related to monuments on the island. In fact, I have in this connection, recommended that the Methodist Church and the Passangrahann Royal Guest House be considered to receive funding from the Dutch Monuments Preservation Fund. This is now being processed. The total amount involved is some 1.3 million euros which has been allocated to St. Martin.
I will stop here and look forward to any questions you may have for me.
I thank you.
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