 Welcome to NTN Likely. I am General Norville. This edition stops stories. The Ministry of Health implements measures to ensure a safe learning environment as students return to the classroom. Sufra MP Honorable Emma Hippoly discusses the potential of the constituency with Taiwan's Ambassador and Minister for Agriculture. And St. Lucia's Cruz roster has a new addition. Thousands of students across the island along with their teachers welcome their second day back in the classroom in months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Face-to-face instruction began Monday 25th October for King Nagatana's grade six and forms four and five secondary school students. Honorable Sean Edward who visited a number of schools Monday is pleased with the phase reopening of the academic year. How many marks has more? The Government of St. Lucia in an effort to ensure the safety of students and staff of schools on the island visited several educational institutions on Monday. A contingent from the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training including Education Minister Honorable Sean Edward, Permanent Secretary and Deputy Permanent Secretary, School Safety Officer and the Chief Educational Officer visited several schools to garner firsthand information on the welfare of staff and students as schools reopened on a feast basis. Students of critical grade levels such as kindergarten and grade six in primary school and forms four and five in secondary school return to classroom instruction. Honorable Edward indicated that based on guidance from the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education hopes to reintegrate other grade levels in the weeks ahead. The school is the safest place for our children to be and this is a point that I've made repeatedly. Children have been at home for weeks and in some cases monos and for a lot of them it has been a struggle, it has been a challenge. They found themselves engaging in a lot of unsavory activities and I believe that the sooner we can have all our children back in school, the better it will be for us, not just as a ministry but as a country. So it's very important. Our children have been deprived of a lot of instruction time ever since the pandemic visited our shores. So as we continue to make progress and as we continue to emerge out of the pandemic, I think it is critical that we assess the situation to have our children back in school. The minister indicated that teachers and students were excited to return to the classroom. They too appreciate the amount of time that has been lost due to the pandemic. So the faster we can have everybody back in school, as I said, the better it will be for us as a country. Our children have lost a lot of time and moving forward, we have to play catch up. We have to ensure that we give them the most comfortable environment for them to learn. Honourable Jean-Edward applauded parents for their patience and contribution towards students' education and applauded that they continue to support their students throughout their educational journeys. From the Government Information Service, Humadi Mark reporting. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health is working closely with schools to ensure a safe learning environment for all students. Teachers and support staff. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belmar George says the entire nation must act as custodians of students and follow all protocols in order to avoid another crisis which would result in the closure of schools. We appeal to parents to work closely with the schools to ensure a coordinated approach during this transition. We also appeal to the minibus sector to follow all recommended protocols to allow the safe transportation of students to school. We continue to ask the public to work with us and exhibit responsible behaviour to ensure our recorded COVID-19 numbers remain low. We are working to ensure the sustainable school reopening for all of our children. Let us all take personal responsibility to keep ourselves and families safe. Our behaviour as adults directly affects the education of our children at this point. We have available both the Pfizer and the AstraZeneca vaccine free of charge in country at our various wellness centres. And these vaccines have been proven to be safe and effective in protecting persons from developing COVID-19. It's severe forms, complications, hospitalisations and death. Parents are also encouraged to vaccinate their children from 12 years and older. Let us make the educational environment safer. Dr. Sharon Belmar George says public adherence to the protocols is yielding results. The Ministry of Health is reporting a further reduction in the transmission rate, hospitalisation rates, positivity rates and prevalence rates and forecast average resolution of this fourth COVID wave by November 2021. From July 25, 2021 to present, we note 6,897 cases as an average of 75 cases per day. 50% are in the age group 25 to 49 years. 57% of the cases are female. At present, we have 400 active cases in country. The majority of the cases are from castries, grocery, viewfort and babano. We are also managing a COVID-19 outbreak at the Baudelaire Correctional Facility. There are presently 34 COVID-19 patients admitted to the respiratory hospital and seven of them are severely ill. The daily infection rate for the past week was 14 per 100,000 per day, which is a 25% decrease from the previous week. We note a steady decline in the rate of transmission at this point with a present rate of 1.2. During that period, we also note 151 COVID-19 deaths on average, three deaths daily with a case fatality rate of 1.9%. Males account for 57% of the deaths. Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belmar George Secondary school students are set to enjoy new educational resources for the subject areas of French and natural sciences as Camdo officially handed over educational materials from various donors. Daniel Dubois reports. Camdo recently received the donations as a result of the kind patronage of the National Commission for UNESCO, the Martinique St. Lucia Consulate and Nelvin Alphos, a St. Lucia living overseas. Natural Sciences Officer from the Curriculum and Materials Unit, Camdo, Ms. Gianetti George, says initiatives like these directly and positively impact the teaching and learning process, especially for science where resources like these incite excitement and enhance the development of scientific thinking and experimentation for pupils. So we had micro science kits that were donated by the National Commission for UNESCO and the purpose of these kits are to foster experimentation among students. These kits were fashioned for secondary school students and so it is our greatest hope that the use of these kits in the classroom can maintain the fascination and the interest of science among our students and also to make instruction more fun, to make it hands on, to ensure that we're engaging in the inquiry approach to instruction. This is one of many contributions that the Commission has made to science education in St. Lucia. Additionally, 10 electronic microscopes were handed over by Nelvin Alphos, a son of the soil residing in the United Kingdom who works in the biomedical field. Be able to be so inspired to make such a donation is just so wonderful. And we want to thank persons in the diaspora who continue to support us here in St. Lucia in various sectors, whether it's education or family life. You know, we say thank you to everyone and we really appreciate this. And you know, we anticipate that the face-to-face engagement of students and teachers can't, well, in terms of all grades will happen soon. And when this does take place, we are happy that we have these instructional material that can serve to strengthen the instruction. These microscopes were sourced and financed by Mr. Alphos and says this contribution to the field of science is an effort to inspire future St. Lucia scientists to seek answers to questions that affect St. Lucia and by extension the wider world. Curriculum Officer for Modern Languages, Leonhard Robinson, thanked Martinique's Ministry of Education and the Martinique St. Lucia Consulate stating the contribution of educational resources will all go well for the learning and the teaching of French. Books about the culture, pronunciation and how to read and write in French were also sent to the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College. I've been working alongside the Ministry of Education in Martinique, we've signed a couple of educational cooperation agreements and our Consul General, Joanna Salton, has been in the background working feverishly trying to get donations and materials for us here in St. Lucia to facilitate the learning of French in schools and we hope that this material will help the students to be a little more motivated and to have some authentic material that they can look forward to getting new vocab and learning new experiences. The MicroScience kits come complete with manuals that are available on the Camdo website and the learning instructional resources will be shared throughout learning institutions island wide. From the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training I am Daniel Dubois reporting. The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development joined the parliamentary representative for Souffre and the Ambassador for Taiwan to St. Lucia on a visit to the communities in Souffre. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development Hon. Alfred Prosper on the latter leg of his familiarization tour joined the parliamentary representative for Souffre Hon. Emma Hippolit and Ambassador of Taiwan to St. Lucia, His Excellency Peter Chien-Chien on a visit to several agricultural organizations and farm areas in Souffre. Parliamentary representative for Souffre Hon. Emma Hippolit notes that the visit was conducted with the goal of better understanding the current developments in the agricultural sector in the region. I felt it was appropriate to bring the Minister of Agriculture in so that he could actually see, visit some of the farms, see the issues first hand and then to sit down and try to address it. Souffre was the breadbasket. It had significant potential and we had to sit down and don't just do a project from the desk, a project that will address the problems that the farmers are having. Jacques Ovali Product, Rainforest Foods and the Bellevue Farmers Cooperative were among the organizations visited. Ambassador of Taiwan to St. Lucia, His Excellency Peter Chien-Chien remarked on St. Lucia's distinct and competitive private sector, noting that there are varieties of areas where the Taiwanese and St. Lucia governments can collaborate to aid in the recovery of the local economy. I really admire all the women who are involved in this sector and I'm glad that Minister Hippoly introduced this cooperative to me. I believe the future cooperation between Taiwan and St. Lucia and all our projects can benefit this kind of cooperative and benefit their work in the future. Minister for Agriculture, Hon. Alfred Prosper stated that Souffre is a drive in forcing St. Lucia's efforts to achieve self-sufficiency. He says there is strong emphasis on ensuring that the agricultural sector in Souffre receives assistance with the issues raised throughout the tour. When you have people producing products of this nature, they need urgent support, just like our farmers that we visited in Derash. You have a high number of farmers, those who are producing potato, tashin and other root crops. They are also making an invaluable contribution to food security in St. Lucia. But they are challenged by what I heard today. The road has been a serious problem many years ago. I know in the past some attention has been given to the road, but from what I gathered this morning, the road has become and has been a major issue for those farmers in the Derash area. Now I know the government is stretching in terms of financial resources now, but we have to also understand the critical role that those farmers play in terms of food production. We have to find some way of relieving them of this situation and to ensure that we continue to encourage them to produce. Recognizing the many issues confronting the Souffre community, the Minister for Agriculture, Hon. Alfred Prosper, reaffirmed his commitment to improving the agricultural industry in St. Lucia. From the communications unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anicia Anton reporting. This is Ntia Knight Lee. Stay with us. Up next, the Ambassador of Japan pays a courtesy call to the Minister of Agriculture. I got the COVID-19 vaccine to safely return to my dance class. I wanted the vaccine because I really missed being at school. I got vaccinated so that I can go visit my grandparents without having to worry about them getting ill. I asked my mom to be vaccinated after reading and realizing this was the best way to keep my family and friends protected. We all look forward to doing the things we love once more. The COVID-19 vaccine gives us this hope. The vaccine is protecting us and will protect you too. Vaccinate for you, for yours, for us. Welcome back. Ambassador extraordinaire and plenty potentiary, his Excellency Tatsuohirayama, paid a courtesy call to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development, Hon. Alfred Prosper. During their discourse, Hon. Alfred Prosper and his Excellency Tatsuohirayama discussed areas in which St. Lucia and Japan can collaborate to develop St. Lucia's agriculture sector. Minister Prosper gave a brief update on the current state of St. Lucia's agricultural industry as it relates to climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic. He also expressed his hope for the continuation of knowledge transferred through training with the aim of improving St. Lucia's agricultural practices. Your government has given tremendous assistance to our fishermen in terms of construction of a fishing port which is really facilitating the packing of the boats and placement of construction of a number of facilities that are critical to our fishermen. I want to say to you that we want to continue the collaboration between St. Lucia, the government of St. Lucia and your government and to continue to work with you in terms of collaboration and to continue giving us the support that you began many, many decades ago to assist the agricultural sector. His Excellency Tatsuohirayama reaffirms Japan's commitment to continue supporting the agriculture industry in St. Lucia. Fisheries and disaster risk management and climate change are two of the most important priority areas for our cooperation with the Caribbean countries. So I'm very glad to continue to work with your government and particularly with your minister to enhance our cooperation and friendship. Japan and St. Lucia established diplomatic ties in 1980. From the communications unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anicia Antoine reporting. St. Lucia received an inaugural podcast Tuesday from the Norwegian cruise line, Viking Ocean Cruises. The MV Viking Orion was welcomed into podcast trees with as much fanfare as COVID-19 would allow. The 745-foot-long vessel has a passenger capacity of 930. Officials of the St. Lucia Air & Sea Ports Authority invest in Lucia, the Ministry of Tourism and Chairman of the St. Lucia Tourism Authority participated in a plaque ceremony welcoming the captain and crew of the Viking Orion. Here are some highlights. Thank you for having a faith in us as a tourism destination for making this medium voyage. It is a pleasure having you all be during COVID-19 and the ordinary circumstances. We would have had a more memorable inaugural call, but not to stand in these circumstances. It is really great to have you on our shores and we do hope that during the few hours that you're having St. Lucia, you'll find something on our beautiful island to enjoy. St. Lucia is not just a destination, but it's a beautiful power for your vessel who is really welcoming. I just returned from Panama and I met some of the cruise ship lines and certainly having you come in here for the first time, we encourage it. And even at the cruise seminar, we were able to learn some of the issues that you, the cruise ships face, particularly your crew. So I can say to you, not just the experience for the passengers would be increased, but also for the crew. We recognize the crew needs a place as well to relax, to feel comfortable. A Wi-Fi type of center is needed for the crew to feel very much at home while on port. So I say to you welcome and continue the call over and over. Chairman of the St. Lucia Tourism Authority, Tadius Antoine, closing off highlights of the inaugural call of the MV Viking Orion Tuesday morning. That brings us to the end of NTN Nightly. Join us next time at 7pm with a repeat at 7am. You can also catch up with us anytime on the St. Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I am General Nobel.