 Welcome to NTN Nightly. I am Anicia Nduan, the solutions top stories. The Department of Education provides a comprehensive plan for the opening of the new academic year. A quarantined national who is COVID-19 negative was hospitalised on the weekend and modernised in the public procurement system. The Department of Education, Innovation and Gender Relations has finalised plans for the opening of the new academic year. The proposed dates September 7, 2020, with teachers reporting to schools on August 31, 2020. Officials say the dates are proposed given the fluid nature of the COVID-19 pandemic. The return of students to the classroom setting is being done under two formats. Option 1 is the whole school approach with the use of social distancing protocols. The students will attend school for four days in the week, Monday to Thursdays. Dr Fiona Philip-Mayer is the Chief Education Officer. The Friday will be used for planning as well as a general sanitisation of the school plant. And note that all of the schools are to present their individual instructional plans. These were vetted. These were looked at by a range of individuals and agencies including our environmental health and approval was then given. So for parents with small school settings where the numbers are low, we have schools with 50 students, schools with 100 students. That has been the consideration for the small schools including both primary and secondary schools. Option 2 is alternate instructional days with an emphasis on assignments and student projects. We note that we have some schools with as many as a thousand children. We are primary schools with 500 children. Option 1 would not fit in that situation. Therefore, for those schools, we're looking at alternate instructional days. And that means that our children, your child, will be at school on alternate days. So quick example, one day in, one day out. And this is meant to ensure that we constantly have contact with the children that they're not gone for long periods of time. But it's important to note that when we have the alternate days, the days when the children are not at school, these are meant for distributed learning activities. That speaks to virtual, meaning online, various platforms that we've used to be able to provide work to the children, as well as activity sheets, project-based work. Chief Medical Officer Dr Sharon Belma George said the decision to reopen schools was evidence-based. Several factors she explained were considered, including the number of active COVID-19 cases on Ireland, the lack of community spread, along with who are the infected individuals. So all of this is just part of what we looked at and also look at how does the disease manifest in our people of school age, in children. And for most of them, it's very mild disease or asymptomatic disease. We also looked at what structures that we have put in place. And I really have to commend the Ministry of Education in how they were able to do the grade 6 and the form 5. I think it was a good dry run and the level of coordination and managing at that phase. We are going into a phase which is of higher risk, bringing all the children back. But all of those factors had to be put in place. Our reality is that for the next two years, we will be managing COVID. What are our options? We keep schools closed for that period of time. Looking at where we are in relation to the disease, looking at what we've put in place to be able to manage, we are at a point where we can safely ask the children to come in. And we need to look at our national situation, look at the facts and not be led by anxieties and misinformation. Chief Medical Officer Dr Sharon Belma George. We will be having more on the proposed opening of the school year and subsequent broadcasts. In more education-related developments, continued efforts to improve the performance of secondary school students in mathematics will take the form of increased resources for the Department of Education's numeracy hours initiative. Jesse Leos has the details. Many secondary school students who struggle with formulas, shapes and number-related concepts will soon be aided with mathematical tools in the classroom. The Department of Education is laser focused on improving the national performance in mathematics at the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate CSEC level. In 2018, 43% of candidates who wrote CSEC in St. Lucia did not attain a passing grade in the subject. The numeracy hours initiative launched in August 2019 and piloted at the Form 4 and 5 level in four secondary schools will continue in this upcoming academic year. Upon review of the pilot phase, more resources for the program were approved to enhance teaching methods. With the concept of algebra, let's see, it's rather abstract. But there are certain ways where, for example, certain topics in algebra are completing the square. So what we have done is that we've gotten the algebra tiles to assist those teachers and students to actually manipulate and complete the square and see how algebra and using the algebra tiles can relate to completing the square, the whole abstract concept of completing the square. That was the program's numeracy coach Ian Hippolit. In addition to algebra tiles, the Department of Education has also procured other materials including graph boards, projectors, calculators and geometry sets. The introduction of such apparatus follows extensive work of the intervention program at the four pilot schools. Teachers were first engaged in training and then through the assistance of mathematics specialists, the mathematics curriculum was reviewed and a bank of lesson plans was developed to assist teachers in executing more effective classes. The teacher now takes the lesson plan and tweaks it, develop it as to how he or she would like it for his or her particular set of students. And then I'm in the classroom observing and offering assistance when needed and necessary. And at the end of the lesson, I sit with each teacher and then we look to see how best we can make the next class more interesting and more fun and more interactive and to better achieve our goals. Hippolit is pleased to report that after the pilot phase, all teachers involved are looking forward to the resumption of the program. All the teachers are on board. All the teachers are looking forward, I can say, to the assistance this coming academic year. We're just in a bit of a limbo with this whole COVID issue and we're not sure how the procedures of school, because some schools have not decided yet as to how they're going to organize their classes. So as we have that settled, then we wouldn't know for sure how we move in part with our numeracy hours program. The numeracy hours program is funded by the Caribbean Development Bank, CDB, Funded Education Quality Improvement Project, Equip. The Department of Education hopes to expand this program to more schools island-wide. For the Government Information Service, I am Jesse Leance reporting. There was heightened activity of one of the government's quarantine facilities during the weekend after a return in national-encountered medical difficulty. Dr Sharon Belma George is the Chief Medical Officer. On Sunday, August 23, 2020, a 48-year-old national who returned to St. Lucia on Friday, August 21, 2020, was found unresponsive in her room at one of the national quarantine sites by the nurses during a routine review. She was rushed to the respiratory hospital via ambulance and is presently at the intensive care unit at the OKEU Hospital receiving care. The COVID-19 test conducted on this patient was negative. The medical team is presently conducting the necessary investigations to determine the cause of her condition and to clinically manage her. Further updates on this patient and the national COVID-19 response will be provided. In St. Lucia, to date, a total of 5,138 COVID-19 tests have been conducted out of which 26 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been recorded. Of these 26 cases, 25 are fully recovered. The last case, which was recorded on Tuesday, August 18, 2020, is a repatriated national who is presently in care and stable at the respiratory hospital. The World Bank Group has received funding under the Canada Caribbean Resilience Facility, CRF. The facility was established to achieve more effective and coordinated gender-informed climate-resilient preparedness, recovery and public financial management practices in nine Caribbean countries. CRF also supports countries by deploying technical experts in the region for close partnership, collaboration and just-in-time support to accelerate the implementation of recovery projects and overall resilience-building efforts across the Caribbean. St. Lucia received technical assistance to undertake some of the reform activities to its public procurement system. Glenn Simon reports. Public procurement refers to the purchase of goods, services and works by governments and state-owned enterprises. It accounts for a significant portion of taxpayer revenue. Governments are expected to conduct public procurement efficiently and with very high standards to ensure quality of service delivery while safeguarding the public interest. Senior procurement officer in the Department of Finance, Trevor Cyril, acknowledged that in the past, procurement has not been accorded the level of seriousness that it truly deserves. He was pleased, however, to see that St. Lucia has now followed the path of the international community by recognizing the importance of the procurement function. When you look at the value of procurement on an international level, it is accounted for 12% of government expenditure. In 2018 dollars in St. Lucia, our GDP was $1.922 billion. Procurement as 12% of that would work out to about $230.6 million and that's conservative. That is a significant amount of money. And so we need to put administrative procedures and a framework in place to ensure that government taxpayer dollars are best utilized and we end up with the best outcome. We're funding under the Canada Caribbean Resilience Facility, CRF. The World Bank team undertook a review of the post-disaster public financial management in St. Lucia, of which public procurement is a key component, particularly in response to a disaster or emergency. A stock-taking exercise on public procurement was conducted with relevant stakeholders during the month of August to discuss the new systems and modalities in public procurement such as e-procurement and legislative reform governing public procurement. Anthony Jean is the Assistant Director for Public Procurement in the Department of Finance. So it's not just only to introduce flashy systems of e-procurement and new legislation, but you want the persons really impacted to feel like some sense of ownership in this because it's not being done primarily for us, it's being done for everybody. So our stakeholders, it's important that they're on board, they understand the history, they understand what it is we're doing and importantly again, the next steps, how it impacts on them, how it requires them to respond and we factor that into our action plans. Deputy Economist in the Department of Economic Planning, Paul Alcindor, agrees that public procurement must be given greater attention as it represents government expenditure into the local economy which serves to stimulate economic activity. Stock-taking is very important in terms of looking at the efficiency of your project, looking at what are the gaps in your project activities, what are the troublesome areas that needs to be addressed so you can cost-correct and become more efficient to ensure that you deliver the outcome that you contemplated in the definition of your project. One of the key stakeholders in the stock-taking exercise was Calvin Lee, the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Department of Infrastructure, Port, Energy and Labor. He noted that procurement is a critical aspect of the ministry's functions, which directly impacts the public works programme. Because a lot of what we do impacts the general public from the point of view that apart from the benefit of having a good road, but the construction works, the repair works are normally done by locals. So whether they work for a large company or a medium-sized one or individual small contractors would build drainage and small walls and that kind, all benefit from that. So procurement for us is critical in that the transparency of it, the accountability of it, it accounts for a significant portion of our annual budget. One of the recommendations emanating from the stock-taking exercise is increased capacity building for all stakeholders in the procurement process in reference to the new tools, procedures and legislation necessary to modernise the procurement system. For the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council, Glenn Simon reporting. From 8 August 20th to Friday August 21st 2020, payments will be made at the various locations from 9am daily. For further information, please contact the ministry at telephone number 468-5108-Castres or 454-6478-Viefen. Welcome back. We now join Prime Minister Hutchinson for the NTN Nouvela Quaiol. Thank you. Thank you Madam Department of University of Sabiliti. For information on Government Settlesy GIS and National Television PIA NTN and for the Nouvela Quaiol, for the Prime Minister Hutchinson. Minister of University of Sabiliti for many physical issues have led to the construction of the construction of the building and for the Government to protect the citizens from the construction of the entire beach. Minister of Settlesy GIS and National Television PIA NTN have also led to the construction of the building and the development of the carbon plant in the capital. The Government Cabinet has made a decision to read the UN Reserve for development for 75 years. The Minister said that the Salah decision will be made to protect the public's public from the construction of the beach in the Kaza Ba. But the Government also knows very well particularly the situation in West Hoang, and its owners, to avoid the construction of the building and the construction of the building, to allow the construction of the building to be completed and to allow the construction of the building to be completed. Minister of Settlesy Makiki has led to the construction of the UN Reserve, which is the most important operation in the country. The Cabinet has presented a big plan and we have decided to present the Salah plan under the examination, which has done this in different phases. But the Government has made a decision to develop the Salah project in the Kaza Ba because it includes public services. Now, the Settlesy Makiki represents the death of the United Nations Government. The government has called for people to continue to provide good assistance to other countries because in the other countries, I can't afford to change the Salah campaign. The Chief Office for the Development Department of the Salah treatment in Pakaraknen has said that the Department began its work in the community. The Settlesy Makiki was the only country So we continue to work with different organizations. We continue to educate our patients, our patients, and our migrant workers. Because it is important for us to do that. We continue to go from one place to another, and we will do an examination. We continue to go from one place to another, and we will do an examination. We will look at the migrant workers' side, the migrant workers' side, the migrant workers' side, the migrant workers' side. We continue to educate our women to take care of the women from their breeding sets. We continue to treat the women from the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers. I am also an officer, and I think it is important for us to work with the migrant workers' side, to take care of the women from their breeding sets. We continue to work with the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side. We continue to work with the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side. We continue to educate our women from the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side, to protect the women. We continue to work with the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side. We continue to work with the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side, to help the migrant workers' side. to be able to take care of their loved ones. And then the hospitals that started to operate in Mademoisse were born here. And it was necessary to place the Victoria Hospital and take care of the patients at the hospital, because it worked very well. The Minister of Health, Honourable Senator Emery Isaac, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it took a lot of time to establish the hospital, especially to provide treatment services. All of this is because of the coronavirus, and it has caused a lot of damage to the hospital. But the Minister of Health declared that the government could not go to the hospital because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Madam Isaac, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it took a lot of time to establish the hospital, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it took a lot of time to establish the hospital, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Minister of Finance, but it was satisfactory because the work was moving forward and it was satisfactory. I would like to thank you for the operations in total, for the hospital, OKU and Victoria, for their work that I am the most pleased with, because I am the least pleased with the work that I have done, and that I am able to do the right thing. Madam Nancy Francis Dickey, I am always in consultation with the European Union, with the professionals, always in consultation with the workplaces that I work in. To examine the workplaces that work, Poussienka, you need to ask the difficulty, you have to address it immediately. It's a plug-over. Put in a hospital, Victoria, you can call a polyclinic. You can place it in a well-descent or cast-free. But it's not as good as the condition, that COVID-19 takes place here. You have to know the place, to go to the direction. That's it. Thank you very much for the news, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much for watching. Thank you very much for the invitation. Thank you very much for the invitation. Thank you very much for the invitation. Thank you very much for the invitation.