 Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Stepping Up, I'm your host, Daniel Dubois. This week we do a highlight and reflect on the Ministry of Education's year and for Linkup, I chat with Dancer and creative Shatoya Jababtees. This year was an interestingly challenging year for the education sector. Parents, students, teachers and administration all had to adjust to the new normal that COVID-19 has brought on, from classrooms to e-books, from the chalkboard to online learning platforms. This year was unprecedented and saw major growth, flexibility and innovation from everyone involved. Everyone basically had to step up and do what had to be done to ensure that learning continues taking into consideration health and safety. As Stepping Up winds down for the year, we wanted to chat with the PS of the Department of Education, Innovation and Generations, Michelle Charles, to get some more insight on the vision for St. Lucia's education sector and how they continue to adapt and move on with their mandate. We spoke about TVET and opportunities for persons to continue their education, the sporting academy among other initiatives by the Ministry of Education. Let's take a look at the interview. To end our season is Ms. Charles, the PS of the Department, Ms. Charles. Thank you very much, Daniel, for agreeing to feature Ministry of Education on the program, especially now is a good time because though it's the end of the program for you at least this season, it's a very good time to feature education. Yes, I think so because I was just curious. It has been an interesting year and I don't want to use bad because everybody know the year has been tumultuous. I would allow you, let's start with, let's reflect on the year. You know a lot has happened from school closing and opening, trying again and the closure so as PS let's just talk about that. For this year for us at the Ministry of Education, it has been a year that has shown us our levels of flexibility, agility, and our levels of responsiveness as a Ministry. It has also been given as the opportunity where we got to see the best in people, but of course they are the challenging times, but I'm happy to say that as a Ministry that we're not battling all of this all by ourselves and we have, I'm surrounded by a team of persons who help us make the best decisions for the Ministry of Education, trying as the circumstances may be, but we've been managing and I expect it to get better. What would you say are some of the highlights of the year? One of the major highlights for us this year was us being able to push forward our ICT agenda. I know we have gotten a lot of bashing as it relates to Ministry of Education and devices and persons not having access, but for us at the Ministry it has been a priority integrating ICT into education and we were well on the path to doing so. However, with the impact of COVID, this has really pushed us to get us to do this quicker than we anticipated and so that was one of the challenges, but it's also a highlight for us because currently we are providing our teachers and students with devices and this has helped accelerate our ICT into education integration. Now I know before COVID that ICT, that education agenda, if ICT and the blended aspect and bring it in within the classrooms for assessment etc, has been there before COVID and we know that because of COVID now it had to basically push you all to do it a lot faster. So since we know that the ICT program has always been a part of education, what would you say is the general vision of education now for St. Lucia? What is it that you guys are looking to achieve in the next year? For us we are really about ensuring that first no child is left behind and also to be able to graduate citizens who are able to compete globally and that means providing them with all of the necessary skills and that they would require to be able to compete in this global environment. We know that our world at the moment is very technical, technology drives things and ICT integration is the key component for us as it relates to having those featured, those subject areas featured in our curriculum. So we want to ensure that our students are able to graduate with the skills that would allow them to function effectively and be competitive on a global scale. We know that recently e-books were, how many e-books were distributed island-wide? That's a major project for us at the Ministry of Education. We initially thought we could have started off with a pilot of 3000 devices. We said we would have distributed those at 13 of our secondary schools where those students would have chosen their subjects at the end of form 2 and would have allowed us to monitor the effectiveness of this system or of this project over a three-year basis. So we rolled out that pilot in February at 13 of our schools and then come March there was COVID and students were home and we realized that many of our students did not have the necessary devices. The students who had gotten the initial set of e-books were privileged in that it allowed them to continue their education online and the duty of this is that it already has content aligned to the CSEC syllabus and so we decided that we were going to go full-fledged now in ensuring that we are able to bridge that gap. So we rolled out the second part of our e-books initiative in September with some the same 13 schools but now we are going to be rolling it out into the other nine secondary schools on Ireland so by the end of December moving into the second term all of our students at least from form 2 to form 4 within our secondary schools are going to be provided with e-book devices. And what makes the e-book devices that what makes that program stand out from other programs that were attempted in the past? In the case of our current project what I really like about it is that there is content already there's the content already aligned to the CSEC syllabus but it also allows for our students to do carry out simulations and labs especially for the science students because we know that the labs components of the sciences can be very expensive at the schools because you need to buy all of the the chemicals and the various agents required and if students are able to do that on their own within a virtual setting it means a child who may not have grasped the concept in class can still go home and do the lab a million times until you figure it and get it right. So I like the interactive nature of that device. Nice so and we know that COVID-19 has really shine a light on a lot of our inadequacies and our weaknesses as a system. What do you have to say to teachers now who there's a lot of talk talking about fatigue and you know with new problems and new solutions you have you still have new problems? Well for me I'm very optimistic and I would like to our teachers to see this as an opportunity for them to develop themselves further. There's opportunity in diversity I always see and of course our teachers are very challenged at this time especially in some cases where they have no devices some persons I like to say are kind of e-averse in terms of using the electronic media for teaching but this is an opportunity that we the teachers get to embrace and learn for themselves and I must say to that many of our teachers are embracing what we refer to now as the new normal. Initially when we started off in March into the third term there was this hesitation and the learning curve was kind of steep but now we notice that there is a reduction in the in the learning curve it's not as steep as it used to be that means our teachers are embracing the technology and I would like to encourage them to do so. The ministry is also providing has provided and will continue to provide a number of training opportunities for our teachers and I would like them to get on board because this is only going to enhance their skill sets moving forward. As you mentioned training opportunities what are some of the other exciting things that the ministry is still ensuring to to send out and to provide for our our citizens? Ministry of Education our some of our strategic priorities of course the first one everybody knows is ICT in education but what I have always referred to as sometimes the best kept secret within the ministry is our TVET policy in terms of how we are going to get the nation industry people to recognize that TVET is as equally of importance as other academic areas to say and so we're focusing heavily on the components of technical and vocational education and training so this is another strategic priority for us at the Ministry of Education and to that end we are moving heavily towards increasing our pool of assessors and verifiers within the ministry within the community the society at large ensuring that we have a number of our CVQs developed so we could allow our secondary school children they can they too can graduate not only with CSEC subjects but also with CVQs we need to we're in the process of promoting CVQs in a big way especially to industry and to tertiary level educated institutions because you want a child who would have graduated say with in plumbing somebody who has a capacity or passion for say plumbing electrical tiling that you can graduate with some portable qualification and that you may decide okay I have my level two or three CVQ certificates that should be able to grant me admittance into the South Elwiss Community College so we are promoting that and also for our employers in terms of ensuring that they can recognize and accept a student who has a CVQ qualification be it level one two three four recognize there must be proper qualifications to accept them into the world of work the world of work um t vet and you know we you're very big on getting opportunities available for persons what and do you guys have opportunities for persons who probably did not complete secondary school I know that t vet is something that's accessible what about the repeating of secondary school years like the last from four from five you know I think a lot of people right now are interested in returning to school like those who probably dropped out or for whatever reason wasn't able to complete their formal education what are the other opportunities besides t vet that they can access for us we recognize that there is need to always have interventions for our citizens our students you mentioned the dropouts we have an increasing dropout rate that we really want to work on and curb so for us we're working closely with k and k has a program called the adolescent development program and we recently got them to adopt the jlp which is the junior life program and these provide pathways for other students who would not have been able to maybe successfully navigate through secondary school as you know talking to the group of persons who went to trinidad to get yes so we had yes we had teachers who were trained in the junior life program and the adolescent development program so we have trained the teachers within our school setting we have also augmented the staff at care and we have a group we have a memorandum of understanding with care which allows us to be able to you know dive with our students those who are interested in following that program the beauty of this thing with care is that after those students have started these students have started the junior life program after they have met you know the competencies required these students can now reintegrate into a secondary school or they could continue with the care program which allows them to graduate with cvqs at the end of this so you know there are various pathways for our students that we were looking to you know to make a creative awareness of so if they were interested in doing that i guess they just contact the ministry or yes you can leave because of the ministry of education or you can go directly to care because the facility is there it's available and it's open to to persons all right um the grizzly sporting academy let's talk about that of course that's another baby for us at the ministry of education the st lucas sports academy you know initially we were thinking of centers of excellence and we were looking at two facilities and we've been able to make much progress with the former grizzly secondary school which has now been re-established as the st lucas sports academy currently we have over a hundred students in house there's been great uptake this year because we had about 40 42 new students enrolled into the program this year this is new it's different it has never happened in st lucas where you have students come into school and live in on doors it's almost like a boarding school kind of thing yes so our students are there they it's a combination of both academic and sporting programs that have been offered to the students the feedback from parents and students very positive for us the little glitch in the system has to do with maybe some of our infrastructural works that we were hoping to be completed by now but we're making some progress and i'm expecting that by the end of this school year the sports academy should be well equipped to be able to provide the kind of facility that we expect a sports academy to look like but i'm i can also say with pride that we've get we've been getting a lot of interest from regional and now scientists to pick up on it yes not only local but the number of regional and international and that's an option as well yes it is eventually let us just let us just consolidate what we have make it into a real sound program and the principal and the team who work at the sports academy they are very competent i have a good group of guys and girls ladies at the academy and the boys themselves are very excited that was very excited when school reopened so it's any boys now we have girls we initially started last year with only boys but we have we have a few girls in the program and they started it was like a small number like 20 or something like that yes we probably had just about 30 students initially but that number has grown yes that number has grown and we are focusing on those three sporting components of cricket athletics and football a lot of successes for the ministry of education this year and how old are they as a year pastors yet yes they're just a little over a year we started in in september of 2019 yes so it's just about that time i would have if it wasn't for covid then we would have had great opportunity to really evaluate the program but so far it's been very successful our students are they're very happy with where they're at even their parents to commend the ministry in terms of give it of developing that pathway for our students because the real vision of the sports academy is to ensure our students have a different pathway those who wish to pursue a current sport they could become you know professional athletes whether it in their field but also open up other gateways for them so if you want to become a sports therapist whatever it is event manager in terms of sports then that avenue is open to you and it's clear that the the the mandate of the ministry is to diversify learning options definitely through ict through tvet through the special through the sports etc so in hopefully by the next year two years we really see this this momentum start to pick up with the ministry there's so much scope for a lot of things to happen within the ministry of education we have been doing a lot there is a lot going on and maybe that's why you don't hear all what we're doing because we're so busy ensuring that we get things out but there's a lot going on within the ministry of education and we'd be happy to sit with you at any other time to discuss our various initiatives well ps child's congratulations on all the work spending and being the team lead behind all of this that the ministry has been able to achieve this year and the previous years final words from you and anything you'd like to to touch on yes i would definitely want to extend all of the the congratulations that you just the extended to me to my team because by myself i'm just the administrative head the the accounting officer within the ministry however i have some very competent technical persons who i work with and i really have to extend my gratitude to them for being as supportive especially in these trying times while other persons or departments can probably sometimes work from home or be on rotation my team has been here for the most part just about every day so i really need to thank them i also want to thank our teachers our parents and our students our ancillary staff within our schools for being patients with us we know it's a difficult time but the ministry really has the best interest of our stakeholders at heart and so we're looking as we move forward we're all going through this challenge together that at the end of it we all come out better for it yes so thank you for this opportunity for sharing with st lucia to what happens within the ministry of education well i want to say thank you and we heard it from the lady herself thank you very much you're most welcome daniel tired of battling large numbers of mosquitoes in the comfort of your home the more you fight the more defeated you feel how about taking on a longer lasting solution ensure that drums or buckets are properly covered after each use drain and dispose of any unwanted containers to reduce potential breeding grounds for mosquitoes do not allow tires to collect water on your property fill them with soil to make your own vegetable gardens or plant flowers polydispose garbage can collect water use secure bins when disposing of garbage in order to reduce mosquito breeding keep vegetation low to allow daylight in and remove hiding places for mosquitoes and other pests check your roof gutters regularly to prevent mosquito breeding regularly inspect your property for signs of mosquitoes following these tips once a week can reduce the population of mosquitoes in and around your home for more information visit or call the environmental health division in Wadawash Grosely at 468-3700 or 468-3737 thank you miss jals for sitting down to chat with us we wish you and the ministry all the best as you guys continue moving forward now it's time for link up with more than 10 years experience in the performing arts industry should turn it about teased training extents from dance styles such as african soca traditional folk dance all contemporary and modern to educating and directing she has represented Saint Lucia at numerous regional and international cultural dance exchanges and dance exposés currently she's a senior student at Towson University where she studies theater arts theater design and production with a focus in scenic design to date she has designed sets for the university and started sure 758 let's take a look at our link-up interview how are you shatoya and thank you so much for agreeing to do this interview thank you so much for having me i'm doing good how are you i'm doing all right i'm doing all right and how has COVID-19 touched you this year i know it's it's you know as a creative it hasn't been easy but how are things it hasn't been easy my classes are all on standby school is online which is kind of a good thing i'm in Saint Lucia which is also a good thing but i'm not creating as much as i want to yeah i mean it has to go in the bad yeah nice so just give um our Saint Lucia audience you know give us a little background on you we know that you're studying overseas let's us let us know what exactly you're studying and we're going to take it back from there okay no problem so i moved to the states like probably three years ago and i started um my bachelor's in theater arts when you get into like your last two years you have to select your major and there was acting dance stage management light and design and scenic design so i selected scenic design and the reason being is my mom is a decorator so i've always been around like like i wasn't raised normally like in my house you had a rich life experience that you know molded you into this type of field okay my mom will match the curtains with the cushions and the rug like my mom wasn't simple so growing up in that atmosphere of always like being handsy being into the into craft it was easy for me to go into scenic design so scenic design is basically like the architect of what the architect is to reality is what scenic design is to theater so basically we design and create the space that the play is going going into or um the dance production has to be in so it's everything except the props and the actors right nice and you chose a very interesting field because you know in St. Lucia we now have uh i would like to say that our theater field is now starting to reemerge and you know COVID-19 it wasn't really a good year for all the actors but i'm sure you know as a stage designer it's not only for theater it's for events it's for for concerts it's everything it's for film everything so let us know a little bit about sure seven five eight you know you have your balm um i don't have the audience know but you've you're an avid member you were an avid member of silver shadows and now you've actually created your own thing so let's talk about sure seven five eight all right no problem so sure actually began i don't want to say accidentally but where i am now was not where i thought i'd be when i started which is a good thing um sure emerged from the fact that when i went to the state i had no avenue for dance i had no um place that i could go to to express myself so i had to create my own um and with that i started dance classes curvy and dance classes in Baltimore like what are you charging for your classes nice yeah and i'm sure because of what's sold out eventually i only had two classes when i had people out of like 15 classes majority of my classes were empty so instead of like saying okay i'll go home um since there's no one at class no i took that time to practice on myself so that's what should actually emerge so right now sure is a choreographer singing designer and dancer so sure is me and i yeah and i live and breathe the arts yeah and i think it's nice that you say sure is you because sometimes we like to compartmentalize the things that you can do as an artist but then i think it's nice when you start to brand yourself and you're able to to offer all of these different services it really helps you grow and it really gets people to start to see and understand what the walk of a creative artist is so we know that when you came down your your classes were packed in st lucha though you understand so let's talk about that my first set of classes i was really nervous to do it because you know like when you come up with a new idea in st lucha people are like would i do things she is why i don't want to do that all kind of questions so i was i questioned myself a lot but i said you know what i'll just buy the bullets and i'll go ahead so i went ahead i had my first class um my first class was free and then i started charging after that and after the buddhoom class like it just it just grew it just took away like sure is bigger than myself as much as i am sure it stands for a lot more than i even could imagine yeah yeah and i know that show um you continued to um be a champion for denry segments and you carried it with you every way you go um and you know it was nice seeing that growth and development from doing your classes and getting the hype from the buddhoom and then you know what it's like you start to realize yourself as this ambassador to music and dance and get st lucha icon so how was it what was probably your most memorable moment or memory of you know letting people who've never heard denry segment before actually experience the music wow that's a really tough one um wow i would say the most memorable was buddhoom by kuya and the reason i'd say that is i created that choreography i don't want to say very simply but it just came really natural as compared to my other choreographies and i just never expected it to go like that and the way everyone just took it and everyone was having fun like me seeing my movement on kpop and the way that they just have fun with it is what i love so in that moment when it was recognized and people were sharing it and it got so many views i was like wow i'm actually i'm doing the right thing like i'm on the right path like yeah it was like a validation for me yeah yeah yeah that's that's that's really interesting to know so sure that's as we wrap up what message do you have for st luchans you know and if if they didn't know you have your the owner managing director show seven five eight you also decorate spaces you choreograph um choreograph pieces for anybody who wants to have a creative piece with dance let them know what that experience is like and what advice do you have for anyone who might want to i call these things creative vibes you know because it's not it's not you know so let us know so my experience as a creative um there's so much to say on it but i'm going to be very short it has changed my life um theater and dance have changed me and molded me into the individual that i am and there are so many benefits of it and to the public i want to say let me change that to the parents of individuals who are artists i'll be very specific allow them to grow allow them to create there are so many times um i see students who say i want to study acting i want to do this but my parents but my parents yeah parents allow these creatives to grow because we are what the parents are doing they're quieting the next generation of creatives and if you look at semen we are based on arts and culture like just let them grow give them a chance listen to them encourage them and that's an important point and i haven't thought about that in a while and that's something that really used to hook me um especially when i used to teach theater arts like you would see just the i don't want to say ignorance but just um thinking towards oh my god theater arts what's that you know and um why why you know and a lot of people but i i hope like you know people like you and you know people like me in different spheres as well are the ambassadors to groom that next generation of actors and dancers and creatives and i know that's probably part of your plan because you've brought in so many people into the free with your videography with your your your designs and even other clothing line as well with the same show 758 so yeah i mean um and another point i would say to the artists this time is i know what we are doing a lot of people see as strange or people see it as um like if you ask someone if someone asks you what are you what's your job and you say i'm an artist they're like oh what's your backup plan like we need to normalize that it's okay to be an artist and i'm not going to say creating the clothing line um collaborating with different dancers and videographers is easy but it has made me grow into the person that i am and it has made i learn from each video and each video after has been better than first so just keep growing as an artist that's what and as we and as you continue your your your work shatoya i want to see keep stepping up i know that you still try to do little things in terms of bringing out different themes i saw your video and trying to highlight depression and mental illness you know and that's form of artistic expression using the form of dance so just just continue doing what you're doing yeah so i don't know if you have anything else to say but you know i think we've come to the end of our little interview shatoya thank you thanks for having me if this was fun i enjoyed it all right thank you honey all right looks like we are the end of our show for now and for the season i want to thank you so much for joining us as we followed so many stories and journeys of singlutions hey and abroad doing amazing things flying our flag high making us proud and surely inspiring someone i'm your host daniel dubois seasons greetings and all the best for the new year see you soon be safe and don't forget to keep stepping up