Minister Carty calls for strategic partnership and investment in teachers

Minister of Education, Sen. the Hon. Nigel Carty

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, OCTOBER 3RD 2010 (CUOPM) – Violence in the schools and wider community cannot be effectively reduced without a strategic partnership and investment in teachers.

So says St. Kitts and Nevis’ Minister of Education Sen. the Hon. Nigel Carty in an address to officially declare open Teachers Week.

“Firstly, teachers play a pivotal role in shaping children’s lives and for their own critical contribution to the social, economic and intellectual development of the nation. Teachers are recognized as being agents of change. Secondly, the quality of teacher training is seen as critically important. Well-trained teachers are better equipped to promote, in students, values of citizenship, peace and intercultural dialogue,” said Mr. Carty in a radio and television broadcast.

Pointing to his Ministry’s efforts to address school violence, Minister Carty said considerable amount of resources has been invested in the orientation and sensitisation of teachers in areas such as, Anger Management, Conflict Resolution, and Behaviour Modification.

“There is research evidence that suggests that in school jurisdictions where teachers are trained in these areas, school violence is substantially reduced,” said Mr. Carty.

Teachers’ Week, organized by the St. Kitts Teachers Union is celebrated under the theme, “Building Strategic Partnerships: Investing in Teachers Now.”

“The significance and urgency of the chosen theme become evident when we recall that teachers in St. Kitts and Nevis, as indeed teachers everywhere in the world, have in their hands the exciting challenge and the onerous responsibility of preparing today’s children to be tomorrow’s leaders and, very critically, tomorrow’s teachers. But the challenge and responsibility are not for teachers alone. It is for parents, law enforcement, civil society, political leadership, the church, and our children to work in close collaborative effort to achieve these laudable and vital objectives,” said the education Minister, who further noted that World Teachers’ Day will be celebrated on Tuesday October 5th, under the theme, “Recovery Begins with Teachers.”

“Not only does this theme bear out the essential need for continued investment in our teachers, moreover, it instructs us that teachers are, and must be, at the forefront of any campaign and effort directed towards positive social change,” Mr. Carty said.

He a couple of statements from the Joint Message from two United Nations agencies – the International Labour Organisation, and Education International – are critically relevant to the sub-theme for Teachers’ Week, which calls for ‘investing in teachers now.’

“There are many children, parents and schools that need help! We must join forces, in effect, build strategic partnerships, with our teachers if we are to be successful in meeting the challenges and providing the support that our children need in order to become well-adapted and highly productive citizens,” said Mr. Carty.