First rural secondary school in the Caribbean named after pioneer of free secondary education in St. Kitts and Nevis and the region
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Students watch the new name of their school |
ST. KITTS, OCTOBER 1, 2010 (CUOPM) – After 45 years, the first rural High School, not only in St. Kitts and Nevis, but in the English Speaking Caribbean, has been renamed in honour of an educator who has given 60 years of sterling service to the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.
“The very first such school in the entire West Indies, from Bahamas in the north to Guyana in the south, from Barbados in the East to Belize in the west, was right here where we are gathered today – at the Sandy Point High School – the school that we are today dedicating to the memory of Charles Egbert Mills – the man whose rallying cry was ‘Secondary Education for All.’ It is in a spirit of respectful acknowledgement and sincere thanksgiving, therefore, that I dedicate this school to the memory of the true patriot whom we honour here today. I am therefore pleased and proud to declare this school – a school so significant in the history of St. Kitts and Nevis, and indeed, the history of the Caribbean – the Charles Egbert Mills Secondary School,” said Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas.
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PM and Mrs. Sylvia Mills |
As it drizzled slightly and intermittently throughout the ceremony, Prime Minister Douglas said Thursday was a great day for the Sandy Point High School, the Mills Family, the Town of Sandy Point in particular and St. Kitts and Nevis in general.
“Today we remember the sacrifice, the vision, and the lasting impact that their husband and father, the late Honorable Charles Egbert Mills, has had on this country. It is a great day for Sandy Point because today we remember, and honour, and give thanks for someone who was born in Sandy Point, who lived all his life in Sandy Point, and who died in Sandy Point,” said Prime Minister Douglas in delivering the feature address.
He told the large audience that included Cabinet Ministers, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Curtis Martin; the Mills Family led by Mrs. Sylvia Mills; former Governor Sir Probyn Inniss; former Speaker in the previous PAM Administration, Mr. Ivan Buchanan; former District Medical Officer, Dr. and Mrs. Ian Jacobs; residents of Sandy Point; Principals of several high schools in St. Kitts; the Principal, Staff and students of the Sandy Point High School, that Mr. Mills was a Sandy Pointer whose concern for all the young boys, and all the young girls, and all the families across this country, for generations to come, made him do something that had never been done in St. Kitts, Nevis, or Anguilla, Trinidad, Barbados, Jamaica or anywhere else in the Caribbean.