OAS Partners with Ministry of Education to Address Anger Management Issues in Schools

Mr. Starret Greene

ZIZ News…Sept. 21, 2010 – The Organization of American States (OAS), through its Special Multilateral Fund of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (FEMCIDI), has teamed up with the Ministry of Education in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis to sponsor a project that will address anger management and conflict resolution issues in schools. In March of 2010, the OAS approved funding for the implementation of a technical cooperation project entitled “Anger Management and Conflict Resolution Programme in Schools”.

Earlier today, Tuesday, September 21, 2010, the project was launched at the University of the West Indies Center, at Fortlands, through the convening of the first of a series of 20 workshops, fifteen (15) to be held in St. Kitts and five (5) to be conducted in Nevis.

According to the project coordinator, Ms. Jackie Fleming, who is also the Senior Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Education, each workshop would allow for the training of 32 teachers from primary and secondary schools in both St. Kitts and Nevis.

In remarks given at the commencement of the workshop, OAS Representative in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, Mr. Starret Greene said that “we are obligated to help the current generation of young people to be friendly with each other, to be more tolerant, more courteous, and more sensitive to each other’s feelings, to be kinder and gentler, to respect differences in each other and to exhibit a spirit of cooperation and collaboration in their daily interaction”. The OAS Diplomat also said that “we should continuously exhort young people to reject deviant and anti-social behaviors, not to associate with evil companions and to teach them how to deal with conflicts whenever they arise”.

The Honorable Nigel Carty, Minister of Education and Information and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Mr. Osmond Petty, also spoke at the event.

Participants in the workshop included high ranking education officials, counselors, principals, and teachers of both primary and secondary schools. The workshop is being facilitated by Mr. Neilson Waithe of Barbados, who is also the consultant and trainer for the project.