Basseterre: St. Kitts, Monday, October 14, 2024: As part of the inaugural Ministry of Education’s Schools Safety Week initiative schools in St. Kitts hosted a special assembly this morning (October 14) to commemorate the week of activities. The Beach Allen Primary School hosted their special assembly under the theme, ‘Safety starts with me’.
The Schools Safety initiative is aimed at promoting and reinforcing the importance of maintaining safe learning environments for all students and staff.
During the assembly, special guest speaker, National Emergency Management Agency District Two Manager, Mr. Vincent Fough, told the students that safety was very important and that disasters driven by climate change, threaten their well-being.
“We are having a lot of disasters… climate change is causing a lot of that and you as the children and youths of tomorrow have been suffering because of these disasters. Whenever we’ve been struck with these disasters you have school closing, you’re home from your education, some of you all get sick because there are things flying around in the air, so all these are part of the safety project that they are trying to put in place,” he said.
Fough said that they were working hard to ensure that the next generation takes care of the environment.
He encouraged them to dispose of their snacks properly and not in the drains that may cause blockage, when it rains.
“You have to take the initiative or the first step in making sure your environment is safe. Tell your friends, tell your family, be that agent where you go around and talk about safety at home, safety at school and safety in your communities,” he said.
Principal Mrs. Jamila Bristol-Browne urged the students to remember that safety begins with them and that today, (October 14), as part of the activities for Schools Safety Week students will tour the school with their teacher to check for safety hazards.
“You’re going to make sure you have a pen or a pencil and a piece of paper so you can write down the information. And when you get back to your class, you can tell your teachers what you found, what is dangerous and how we can fix it. What you think we can do to go about making our school safe, you are part of this,” she said.
The week continues with an emergency earthquake drill tomorrow (October 15), on Wednesday (October 16) there will be a clean-up day at the school while school safety talks and demonstrations are scheduled for Thursday, (October 17). Safety exhibitions will culminate the activities on Friday (October 18).
The International Day for Disaster Reduction is celebrated on October 13, with a theme, “Empowering the next generation for resilient future”.
