 Welcome to NTN Nightly, I am Genelle Norville, this edition's top stories. The Dennery Primary School now a model safe school with strengthened security capacity. Helen's daughter, Kiflyn Karoo, creates history in the quest for sustainable development. And Minister Honourable Kenson Kazimie wraps up a tour of national sports facilities. As the Ministry of Education prepares to undertake a phased reopening of school in the physical classroom, the Dennery Primary School is singing the praises of a SEDEMA-funded project which helped strengthen the security capacity of the institution and also to safeguard it from fire hazards. Chris Satney has more in this report. Safety for all users of the school compound is top priority for the local education sector at the model safe school program which is funded by the Caribbean disaster emergency management agency SEDEMA. It's designed specifically to enhance the capacity of schools to incorporate and mainstream comprehensive risk and disaster management considerations into education sector policies, planning and operations. Principal of the Dennery Primary School Cheryl Francis says the project launched in 2018 has helped the institution tremendously, reducing risk from intruders through the installation of fencing as well as the placement of fire extinguishers and smoke detectors in strategic locations to guard against fire hazards. We've had situations where things from the secondary school would spill over, disputes spill over to our compound because of the openness our resources have been tampered with. So with the fencing for sure, we know that we have a better leverage in terms of controlling who comes in, what happens on our school compound. So given that we're now closed and we have our caretaker, he's able to filter who comes in, direct them to the office so our children can play in a safer environment and we all can work in a safer environment. Students and the teachers alike now feel confident despite the fact that instruction has been administered mostly online as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Dennery Primary School will remain secure from intruders, human or animal and the added peace of mind from reinforcements to prevent threats from fires. I feel like it helps children mentally and physically concentrate from school and not get distracted from criminals and uninvited guests outside and focus on their schoolwork. Well for the fire extinguishers, you never know what could happen, especially that the cook signed the kitchen and anything could go wrong and they could start a fire. So I just want to thank the principal for having the fire extinguishers in the school. Before when the fence was not here, cars would mostly speed to the campus of the school and most likely they would have students running around. In order to address some of the evident vulnerabilities of the education sector, a toolkit was developed by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency to guide governments of the development of national safe school policies and to offer tools for assessing the level of safety at schools in member states. Teachers tell suffilgents and deniver Paul believe that the children in their care as well as their colleagues are more secure because of the SIDIMA input. We are living in a society where we have criminals. We can never tell what people are thinking but now that it is fenced and it's closed up that gives us a little assurity that we are safe to an extent. Having a fire extinguisher at the school helps to keep us safe and it ensures that if put chance on an average day we have a fire we can just quickly run to the fire extinguisher and deal with the situation. Another component of the Model Safe Schools program is to build resilience into the construction of school plans to ensure that they are able to withstand potential impacts of natural disasters providing an all-round safe learning environment for all on the school compound. From the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, I am Chris Satney reporting. Still with the education sector, some 54 candidates from four secondary schools namely the Urgev Secondary School, Grand Revere Secondary School, St. Lucia Sports Academy and the Stanley John Odlam Secondary School participated in the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence CCSLC. The students were assessed in six subject areas including English, Mathematics, French, Spanish, Social Studies and Integrated Science. Registry of Examinations, Carmelita Matthew explains that CCSLC identifies students' performance based on three levels. These are mastering the concepts, being competent in the area and developing competence which means that they have not fully grasped all concepts in the subject area. Fifteen students obtained competency. We have four students being at the master level and five students developing competence. In French, we had zero students at the mastery level and one student who was competent and no students developing competence. Integrated Science, again, we see more students at the competent level. We had nine students, just one student obtaining mastery and four of them developing competence. For mathematics, we have zero at the mastery level, nine at the competent level and fifteen. So we have more students in mathematics who are still trying to develop competence in that area, in that subject area. For social studies, we see more students at the competent level and also in Spanish. 341 candidates participated in the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination CAPE. The individuals were from the Sao Paulois Community College northern and southern campuses and were tested in 24 subject areas with 37 subjects being conducted electronically. Registry of Examinations, Carmelita Matthew explains that CAPE Unit 1 recorded a decline in the pass rate from 96.8 in 2020 to 95.71 in 2021. A slight decline was also recorded in CAPE Unit 2 from 95.95 to 95.83. The pass rate for subjects, for Unit 1, it ranged from 45.45% to 100%. And for Unit 2, it ranged from 81.33%, to 100%. For Unit 1, we have the subjects that obtained 100%, we have quite a few of them. Accounting, Communication Studies, Digital Media, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Environmental Science, Green Engineering, Information Technology, Literatures in English, Physics, Sociology, Spanish, and Tourism. So these are the Unit 1 subjects that obtained a pass rate of 100%. For the Unit 2 subjects, we have less, Applied Mathematics, Digital Media, Entrepreneurship, Geography, Green Engineering, Information Technology, Physics, Sociology, Spanish, and Tourism. So these are the subjects that obtained a pass rate of 100%. The males outperformed the females in five CAPE subject areas. We are looking at the gender performance of CAPE. We noticed that the males outperformed the females in five subject areas and these subject areas include Digital Media, Environmental Science, Green Engineering, Information Technology, and Physics. Registrar of Examinations, Kamalita Marfu. Meanwhile, a new Board of Governors has been commissioned at the Sao Paulois Community College. The announcement was made by Minister for Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology, and Vocational Training, Honorable Sean Edward, during the presentation of the 2021 CXC results. Highlighting the critical role played by the college in the education pursuit of students. The Minister expressed confidence in the new Board. As you know, the college is the flagship learning institution in this country. And it is the institution that is supposed to take our students from the secondary level and to give them training that will cause them to take their rightful places in the different government offices and private sector entities that exist in this country. So this morning, we were able to commission a new Board of Governors for the Sao Paulois Community College. That Board is chaired by OAS Technical Person, Peter Springer. The Deputy Chair is Dr. Mrs. Fortuna Anthony, and on the Board we have Dr. Anthony Felicier. We have Mr. Akane Labon. We have also Dr. Allison Garjada and we have Mr. Felix Finister. They constitute the new Board of Governors for the Sao Paulois Community College. And working with the senior leadership of the college we're expecting very exciting things to come out of the college in the ensuing academic year, if not for the remainder of this academic year that we are currently. The Education Minister also explained the Ministry's intent to explore options for the use of the now decommissioned George Charles Secondary School Plant. Later this week, with senior personnel from the ministry, I will be doing a tour of the now decommissioned George Charles Secondary School Plant. As you know, this building has been abandoned and I think it has been used by vagrants at the moment. There's absolutely nothing constructive happening there. And so, later this week into next week, I will be taking a delegation from the ministry on tour to basically look at the George Charles Secondary School building and to see how we can use it moving forward. There are a few proposals before us in terms of what it should be used for, one of which is potentially converting it into a home for the NSDC. There's also the idea of transforming that institution into a national institute of vocational training. So, we will make the assessment and we will weigh our options, but I can assure you that at the soonest, we will be making a very definitive statement in terms of how we are going to resurrect what was known at the time as the George Charles Secondary School fees. Minister for Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training Honourable Sean Edward. Founder and Executive Director of Helen's Daughter, St. Lucian Keflin Karoo has achieved another career milestone. She has become the first Caribbean national and youth to be appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture, ICA. More from her, Madi Mark. The Government of St. Lucia has congratulated Keflin Karoo on being bestowed the title of ICA Goodwill Ambassador. Karoo was awarded in recognition for her contribution to capacity development, training and empowerment of rural women farmers. The Inter-American Institute of Cooperation on Agriculture, ICA confers the title of Goodwill Ambassador to individuals who, based on their personal merit, identify a social cause and displace a social commitment and willingness to participate in activities relevant to the Institute's mission. Keflin Karoo is the first person from the Caribbean and the first youth to receive this award. Miss Keflin Karoo, Founder and Executive Director of Helen's Daughters, a grassroots non-profit organization has demonstrated her commitment to uplifting rural women by providing training, mentorship and support for the marketing of their agricultural products through e-commerce and other means. Her innovative approaches to contributing to economic empowerment and sustainable livelihoods among rural stakeholders, including women and youth, have been recognized nationally, regionally and internationally. Miss Karoo's work is aligned closely with the mission of ICA and we therefore consider her to be most worthy of being conferred with the title of ICA Goodwill Ambassador. Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Honourable Philip J. Pierre, at the virtual ceremony honoring Keflin Karoo, pledged the Government of Saint Lucia's commitment to collaborating with Helen's Daughters to boost Saint Lucia's food security and the lives and livelihoods of the citizenry. An organization like Helen's Daughters, but it's very mean and it's very leadership. Leadership is a welcome change in the agricultural industry. For young people and particularly young women like Ambassador Karoo, to be able to put together synergies so that we can have an organization like Helen's Daughters is really admirable and the Government of Saint Lucia will do whatever we can do as I heard my Minister say to encourage that kind of development to create an expansion of Helen's Daughters so that the country can benefit. Executive Director of Helen's Daughters and ICA's newly appointed Goodwill Ambassador Keflin Karoo, highlighting the importance of agriculture and food security, especially during this COVID-19 era, explained how organization emerged from a need to rebrand the agricultural sector. When I started Helen's Daughters, it was seen as a noble pastime, a hobby even. Empowering rural women, how nice! How sweet! But what we don't understand in Saint Lucia in the region and the world at large is that the seeds of empowerment in agriculture have the ability to allow undervalued farmers and farm herds to get a renewed invigoration in the sector. It's allowed, from what I've seen, it's allowed battered women to find a freedom from their partners through the farms. And it's allowed youth, like myself, to hold their heads up high when choosing to become a farmer. Let's face it, the training programs are plentiful. The technology exists in agriculture. But what are we really doing to make the agricultural sector attractive to women and youth? Agriculture is a need of a major rebranding. And while we blame youth for the lack of interest in the sector, we have not been able to support or showcase successful farmers and farm herds. But we continue to expect the youth to enter a sector fraught with instability, a negative perception and an overall lack of support. Helen's daughter's over the past three years has trained over 300 rural women in sustainable agricultural practices and building their agricultural businesses. The entity continues to promote the development and empowerment of rural women in agriculture through education from the Government Information Service, whom I demarc for reporting. This is NTN Nightly coming up next and join the harvest at the farmer's market. According to a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 2018, compared with the general population, individuals with alcohol dependence and persons who use drugs have a 10 to 14 times greater risk of death by suicide. Alcohol alone was found to be involved in approximately 22% of deaths by suicide. Drug use does not solve problems, it creates them. Suicide is preventable and one can save a life. All we need to do is act. Ask if someone is thinking about suicide, let them know you care, help them find assistance or treatment as soon as possible. Call 203 if you or a loved one is having suicidal thoughts. Welcome back. A thorough assessment of the sports facilities on Island has been conducted by Hon. Kenson Kazeme, Minister for Youth Development and Sports. The assessment formed part of the minister's fact-finding mission as he finalizes plans for the management of facilities at the national level. Details from Jolita Peter. Minister for Youth Development and Sports, Hon. Kenson Kazeme recently led a delegation on a side visit to sporting facilities that formed part of the national sports infrastructural program NSIP. The sites, as it said, included the Souffrement Stadium, the Derisso, Miko and Denry Plainfields. The visits were necessary in providing an overview of the conditions at those sporting facilities. I will say that today was eye-opening a number of the facilities that have been considered complete still require a number of adjustments and a number of, you seem to have a lot of TV issues. Going forward we as a ministry we are going to put in place a national facility management policy together. We are going to be doing that under, well, the auspices of NLA and SSI so that we can have standards as it pertains to what playing fields are supposed to look like. Hon. Kazeme was accompanied by the member of parliament for Souffrement, for Sezak, Hon. Emma Hippolit and the member of parliament for Miko North, Hon. Jeremiah Norbert along with officials from the Departments of Economic Development and the Ministry of Development and Sports. I know we've had a lot of young people in here we want to start a football competition there are certain things missing and what I was happy to hear the minister giving me a commitment that even in the next two weeks we'll try to get two goal posts at least so that the football competition can suffer. There are other things that we have to do, we have to put the management committee in place to manage this facility and the ministry is going to assist in that. The other area for us is the maintenance of the facility. Chairman of the Deraso Football League Mr. Innocent Sataj expressed that although he was generally satisfied with the new facility in his community there were matters requiring some attention. We would like to see that all the potential hazards on the field are taken care of. We would like to have an area, a technical area we also would like to see a well developed warm-up area. We would also hope that we have shelter in the near future and a place where the vendors can comfortably sell their produce. We would also like to have our own dressing and storage area. It would be nice if we have a building where players can get dressed they can get their massages they can get a bath after games and so on and so forth. As much as I'm an avid lover of sports everything about sports you get it in Jeremiah. I still have some difficulties with the artificial surface. I'm pro-green so I prefer our green surface and I understand the reasoning and the rationale behind this surface. As I said I do have my challenges with it but having spoken to the Minister of Youth and Sports today there is some hope that we will see even further development and improvement with the surface and also with stands where people will be able to come and watch a football game. The youth development and sports ministers said his ministry would like to see the formulation of policy to deal with the upkeep and management of sporting facilities on the island. Julie Tepita reporting. As part of the enhancement of the efficiency of the production distribution supply chain in the fruits and vegetables sector project the department of agriculture in collaboration with the Taiwan technical mission join the food and agriculture organization in commemorating World Food Day with a farmers market. The farmers market offered an opportunity for farmers as well as agriculture related small businesses to sell their products directly to those who work, live and visit castries central. The initiative which took place at Constitution Park forms part of a series of farmers markets hosted across St. Lucia under the 7 crops project. The products on display included organic produce, potted plants and locally made products. Marketing specialists of the Taiwan technical mission, Eileen Chen, explains that with difficulties brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic in the agriculture industry, this initiative provides farmers with a good avenue to showcase their products and increase their sales. I think the most important purpose for farmers market is we let the local consumer be aware of high quality produce in St. Lucia, not just fresh produce, you can also see agro process food. So, along with that, it's bringing the consumer awareness about how St. Lucia's product could be high quality. Project coordinator of the 7 crops project Adeline Nurovik indicated the farmers market is in keeping with the goals of World Food Day as it promotes healthy eating and sustainability of the agriculture industry. We decided to have our usual farmers market with a twist. So what we did for this World Food Day activity, we invited our usual supporters that would be our wine producers our flower, different farmers have always been supporting us and we extended to other farmers throughout the island. But we have to remember that we are in the Covid season so we were restricted as to the number of farmers but lots of persons are interested in what have been happening under the 7 crops project and we have many positive outcomes and this farmers market is the next outcome of the 7 crops project and because it's World Food Day, we decided to have it and to make it a bigger one for our farmers to take part in. Miss Yurovik noted that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development will continue to collaborate with the Taiwan Technical Mission under the 7 crops project to reach the overall goal of reducing the food import bill in St Lucia. From the communications unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anisia Antoine reporting. We now take a look at the weather. Forecast for St Lucia followed for the next 24 hours. Partly cloudy to cloudy skies with a few scattered showers and a chance of isolated thunderstorms. Seas light to moderate with waves 3 to 6 feet or 0.9 to 1.8 meters. A tropical wave will cause an increase in cloudiness showers and thunderstorms over the southern portion of our region from this evening into Thursday. A second tropical wave located over the Central Tropical Atlantic is moving westward near 15 miles per hour or 24 kilometers per hour. Tropical cyclone formation is not expected over the tropical Atlantic during the next 5 days.