 Welcome to the NTN Nightly. I'm Nisha Charles. This edition's top stories. Saint Lucia highlights the importance of immunization to development. The Ministry of Education discusses positive discipline within the school system. OECS member states continue to benefit from Canada's seasonal agricultural workers program. All that plus the latest in youth development, sports and the NTN Nouvelle Arquillo. The Department of Health and Wellness has joined global partners in the annual observance of vaccination week in the Americas. The public health campaign promotes equity and access to immunization. Immunization of vaccination remains one of the most efficient and cost-effective public health strategies used to reduce and prevent diseases. Vaccinations have been beneficial in eradicating diseases like smallpox, the elimination of measles in some parts of the region, as well as reducing mobility and mortality rates among populations. In observing vaccination week of the Americas, the Department of Health and Wellness is joining the global community in promoting the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages against disease. Dr. Sharon Belma George, the medical officer of health, says that since immunizations began in 1977, they have been great reductions of many diseases in Saint Lucia. We formed part of the PAHO Revolving Fund, so we procure our vaccines through the Pan American Health Organization. And we ensure that the vaccines that we bring in through this fund are very effective and they are also very safe to our population. We also monitor our children who receive those vaccines. So the Ministry of Health and Wellness, as we have had since 1977, we provide those vaccines at our 36 centers, that is 33 wellness centers to community hospitals and polyclinics, to the population free of charge. We are committed to ensuring the availability of those vaccines to reduce the burden of vaccine preventable diseases on the population. This year's vaccination week of the Americas is being observed from April 20 to 27, 2019. The theme for this year's campaign is Protected Together, Vaccines Work. Assistant Principal Nursing Officer and Immunization Manager, Julieta Cassius-Frederick, says Saint Lucia continues to improve on the vaccines that it offers to the public. We last year introduced the hepatitis B, both those, so an infant who is born would receive the hepatitis B vaccine. This is an improvement that we have done in our schedule, again to be able to protect against transmission of the virus from the mother to the baby. And of this year, January, we introduced the human papillomavirus vaccine, which is the HPV, to all of our girls and our boys, 11 to 12 years in grade 6, again to be able to prevent on the burden of cancers. The department has noted the increased resistance of parents to immunize their children and will continue to make available the documented benefits of vaccinations. With high immunization levels, use of the MMR, measles had gone to a very, very low level, and some parents have decided to stop. And we note that those outbreaks are happening in the areas with low immunization rates for MMR. We have high levels of hospitalization in children. Now for us in Saint Lucia, yes, we are a small country, but remember we were a tourist destination. So it only takes one tourist to come in, and that has happened in other Caribbean islands. Travel with measles, and a child who's not immunized would then be at risk, and at risk of giving it to every other child who's not immunized. So I don't think anybody plans on having a child and keeping that child in a glass box. Your children go to school, they go to the supermarket, they go on the beach, wherever they go they can interact with somebody. We travel, persons come in, so we have to ensure that we do what is best in the best interest of the health of our children and not put them at risk. Over the years, the department has done tremendous work with the primary schools to ensure that every child is fully vaccinated before school entry. This year, the focus will be at the community level where daycares, preschools, parents and community members can be educated on the importance of vaccinations in protecting the entire community. The Ministry of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development recently held a roundtable discussion to sensitize senior administrative staff and the Committee on Positive Discipline to the effective schools framework, juvenile justice reform and existing laws and conventions pertaining to child safeguarding and protection. More from Anise Antoine. The Curriculum and Material Development Unit, CAMDU, within the Department of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations and Sustainable Development in collaboration with the Division of Human Services hosted a discipline development seminar to sensitize the heads of the Department of Education as it relates to positive discipline. CAMDU has been implementing effective and child-friendly schools across the island throughout the years. Sophia Edwards Gabriel is the Acting Education Officer for CAMDU. One of the key areas that we consider when we are looking at effective schools is implementing positive discipline and school-wide positive behavior interventions and support. We felt that it was necessary for the Ministry staff to also be aware of what's happening in the schools and so that we can have a better understanding and to provide that kind of support from the administrative level. Edwards Gabriel stated that this will be the 50th Convention hosted by CAMDU with the aim of enhancing the education system in St. Lucia. Many people misunderstand the concept of positive discipline and many people believe that when we speak about positive discipline, we're talking about necessarily and only no corporal punishment. But positive discipline really focuses on how we teach children to behave in the ways that we want them to behave. If children do not understand, for example, language or how to speak, we teach them if they do not understand any other subject area we teach them. They go to school and we teach them all other areas. However, we never teach behavior. We just believe that children are supposed to behave in a particular way and they're supposed to know what is expected of them. So positive discipline takes a proactive approach to helping children behave in the way that we want them to behave. And to do so, we are supposed to first let them know what is expected of them. Beverly Ann Poyott, Acting Director of the Division of Human Services, presented on the work being done with the Justice Juvenile Project. We are currently in the second phase of this project and right now we are looking at moving towards rehabilitation of our young offenders instead of the traditional punitive measures that we were using such as incarceration. So when we talk about rehabilitation, what we're looking at are alternatives to sentencing. So we're looking at things like diversion. And when we speak of diversion, we're looking at diversion from the entire court system. So you will have a juvenile, you have a young person, for example, who is in conflict with the law. And instead of taking that juvenile before the court system, we implement measures whereby we can start working with them. The Acting Director of the Division of Human Services stated that working with the communities and environments in which young people engage plays an important role in enhancing their abilities and mannerisms. From the Government Information Service, I am Anisia Antwan reporting. Meantime, the Technical and Vocational Education and Training TVET Unit of the Department of Education, Innovation and Gender Relations engaged industry players with the view of improving TVET offerings and youth development. Clovis Samuels is the Education Officer with Responsibility for TVET. The immersion of our teachers in industry so that they can develop that experience to allow them to prepare their students to fit seamlessly if that is possible into the world of work. We'll also be discussing apprenticeship because apprenticeship is a part of the training system that we have. And we ultimately want to discuss the rationalization of TVET. Are the subjects we currently doing or the skill areas we currently doing appropriate for the needs of industry? And what has been done in the individual subjects actually mesh with the requirements of industry. So at the end of the day, we're expecting that we'll come up with a number of form decisions and commitments including meeting periodically to discuss the same issues because they're current, they're topical and they're always in place so that we can actually have a system where the training needs of the industry is met by trainers. In other developments, in the past five years a total of 3,623 workers from six OECS member states have participated in Canada's seasonal agricultural workers program, the SAWP. This statistic points to the significant contribution made by the SAWP to the alleviation of unemployment in the OECS and was highlighted at a recent accreditation of Canada's High Commissioner, her Excellency Marie Legault, to the OECS. To date, 37% of workers have come from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 33% from St. Lucia, 17% from Dominica, 10% from Grenada, 3% from St. Kitts and Nevis and less than 1% from Montserrat. Director General of the OECS, Dr. Diddikos Jules, informed that a meeting of OECS Labour Ministers will be convened to discuss expanding employment opportunities for more workers across the member states. Dr. Jules also expressed deep appreciation to Canada for its scholarship programs and placement of Canadian Development Volunteers throughout the islands. And this is the NTN Nightly. Ryan O'Brien is up next. If you have to do your own spray mix for Black Sigotoka treatment, always follow the recommended safety procedures. Always wear protective gear when handling or being exposed to the fungicide or other pesticides. Use only the fungicide recommended by the Black Sigotoka Management Unit when the treatment is due. The required quantity of the particular fungicide recommended must be mixed with spray oil and applied at a rate of 1.5 to 2 gallons per acre. Fungicides which are not recommended or applied at the wrong time or even when the spray treatment is not done effectively can cause the fungus to become resistant to the chemical and therefore may no longer control the disease. Oil fungicide mix which has been stored for too long should not be used to treat Black Sigotoka disease. If carried out, such treatments may not be effective and can lead to poor control of the disease. Remember, before each chemical treatment for Black Sigotoka disease on your farm, first the oil fungicide mix must be re-agitated immediately before application. For more information on how to treat and control Black Sigotoka on your farm or in your backyard garden, contact the Black Sigotoka Management Unit at 4515491 4515894 or email bpmu at candw.lc. This message is brought to you by the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the International Cooperation and Development Fund of the Republic of China on Taiwan. Welcome back. We join Ryan O'Brien for the latest happenings in youth development and sports. Hi, I'm Ryan O'Brien with your Weekend Edition looking at developments in youth and sports. Prime Minister the Honourable Alan Shasne has announced there will be a new youth and sports authority to assist in the development of youth and sports. Prime Minister Shasne made the announcement during his delivery while tabling the Appropriations Bill 2019-2020. Our emphasis on sports serves as dual purpose, Mr. Speaker. From a social perspective, it gets youth engaged in healthy activity and off the streets after school while building community spirit. From a development standpoint, it provides them with a training that could lead to university scholarships abroad and careers as professional athletes. It'll be money well spent providing significant social dividends. The government's plans to merge the national lottery into the gaming authority to handle the regulatory aspects of the lottery also fits into this vision. What this means is we will now establish a new youth and sports authority with the expertise to be able to invest in sports and cultural development. It will be specifically staffed for this purpose and be able to fund major sporting activities in Solution. With this investment by the government, I'm making a formal plea for solutions to engage in the spirit of volunteerism and I'm calling on all volunteer coaches and trainers to give their time and knowledge to maximise both the investment and the talent of our young people. The Prime Minister noted that these initiatives including the School of Excellence will bring greater prospects for sportsmen and women in St. Lucia. Director of Youth Mary Wilfred has asserted that St. Lucia's youth in the diaspora will also be considered for national recognition during the annual youth awards. Ms. Wilfred gave the assurance while addressing the media ahead of the awards to be held Saturday evening. We recognise young people in the diaspora. There are young people who are at St. Lucia's in the US, in the UK, in the Caribbean and we would want to celebrate their work as well and we've discussed how do we reach out to these young people so that they too can be part of that recognition that we give every year. So certainly having something like that would, you know, our nets would be cast even wider so it's even more inclusive. The Youth Director also looked at some aspects of the judging criteria. We always look for a young person who would demonstrate ethical behaviour so we don't award an individual who probably is tarnished, you know, in any way that can give us, you know, negative, negative reviews. I'm not saying that it's a perfect system but we try as much as possible to vet so we present an outstanding young person in performing arts we know is above board. Saturday's Youth Awards is scheduled to be held at the Financial Administrative Centre commencing at 7pm. Director and co-founder of the Caribbean Sport and Development Agency, Mark Munger, is suggesting that sports and physical activity lends a strong context to the concept of team engagements. Mr Munger spoke recently at the Second Physical Education and Sports Conference in St Lucia. So when we put them in small groups and we create competitive situations and I'm talking about 11 versus 11 football or cricket or five versus a court netball or anything, I'm talking about competitive situations. That sport, that's the value that sport brings to us in the physical curriculum that we are afraid of because that sport can't use competition in physical education. I'm not talking about full-on competition per se. Not that that is bad either. I'm talking about using that authentic sport environment that brings us elements of competition. The guest speaker told participants that teaching of physical education can be done directly or indirectly. So think for example that we're doing same thing throwing and catching but now we're doing the on-the-arm toss to targets and we're doing it over a rope or net. And we have teams, so four children, maybe five in a team standing up in lines, one behind the other and they're tossing over this net or whatever it is to try to get that ball so this is tossing for accuracy and we're teaching them because this is not just an activity, this is a learning experience and we're teaching them whether directly or indirectly to think about everything that is correct about that technique from that recoil to point of release, follow through all of those things that shifting of weight and all of that. We're teaching them that so that they improve the accuracy of their toss. Mr. Mungle said the experience of teamwork, focused targets and goal setting provides a competitive environment for the ultimate improvement of outcomes. And that's your weekend update on happenings in youth development and sports. I'm Ryan O'Brien. Thanks Ryan. In observation of World Press Freedom Day and Reading Months, the National Association of Librarians and Information Professionals and the Public Library will be hosting a writing and publishing workshop on Friday, May 3rd, 2019 from 9.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. This workshop encapsulates the basic fundamentals of writing and publishing and will be facilitated by locally renowned writers, journalists, authors, poets and publishers. Topics include but are not limited to general principles of writing, the art of journalism, the basic principles of publishing to name a few. The group airmarked to participate in this activity include writers of short stories, students of English language, English literature and communication studies, budding novelists, poets, playwrights, persons pursuing careers in journalism, writing, publishing, both seasoned and novices. The Central Library can be contacted for more information. And stay with the NTN Nightly. Up next, Primus Hutchinson is here with the NTN Nouvelle Arquéole. Everyone is at risk for getting a foodborne illness. While most foodborne illness cases are mild and go unreported, long-term health complications and even death can occur from a foodborne illness. Foodborne illnesses are caused by contamination of food at any stage of preparation. If you are a food handler involved in home-based food production, meat, fish, chicken or a big shop, as a food vendor, how you prepare food can put your customers at risk. Do you know the risks and how to avoid them? The Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards can help you. For more information, contact the Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards at 456-0546 or email SLBS at candw.lc or visit the website at www.slbs.org.lc. Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards, making quality and standards our way of life. Welcome back. We join Primus Hutchinson for the NTN Nouvelle Arquéole. Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam Department, University of Sablité for the information. The government is here, GIS, the National Television Agency for NTN, the Nouvelle Arquéole, and the Primus Hutchinson. You will be working in the second phase of the rehabilitation project in the John Compton area, in the Milette area, to start working here. Sablité, you can clean, and transport all the work you need to do to get it. If you are a representative, the company of the OASCO will announce that the OASCO officers and the company who are working here, that is the Vinci Construction Maritime, will join and the residents of Jackmel, Vanna, and Tetchimi Milette, and a lot of people who are working here, and the development here, will be in 2019. This situation is necessary to prepare the residents for the equipment that they need to pass on their chimeras, and then for the work to be done in Darmdorua. I would like to propose the Vinci Construction Maritime, David Ferraro, and the Dredger, who will be working here for the entire Sablité, to look at the work that is being done here, and to save the 14 Trailer Tracks for the people who are working here to transport their equipment that they need to pass on the Darmdorua John Compton to start establishing their equipment. There is a lot of local companies in OASCO to prepare and deposit all the work that they need to pass on their mega contracting incorporated. The first phase Asou Damlan started a month and a half ago, but he didn't have enough money to pay the rent, so he had to work in a pile. He had to do what he was asked to do to support the residents. There was a lot of work to be done in the house, so that he could always do what he was asked to do, and do a lot of traffic management to reduce the situation and reduce the situation in his place. Consultation. We have my vision for Vilcastruy in the year 2003. An initiative that started in 2008 was made in collaboration with the National Bureau of the United Nations for project services, and then support the Bureau of Vilcastruy, under the government set here, a program to plan the development of Vilcastruy. Consultation. We have my vision for Vilcastruy in the past. We have the Prime Minister, Alan Shastney, who is the representative of the Bureau of the National Bureau of the United Nations. One of the most critical vision of this year is the vision for the project that proposed the development of Vilcastruy, which is the same Vilcastruy, and which is the same Vilcastruy that was set up in the south, in the north, without the same Vilcastruy. This is also the plan that was proposed to establish a system that will be able to support the development of Vilcastruy and also build a special transportation system for Vilcastruy. But before the new vision of this year began, the implementation of the GID, that the authorities need to adopt the way of the development of Vilcastruy, even in the country, in general, to plan and reform the operation of Vilcastruy. The Cabinet Government approved the new vision of the GID to build Vilcastruy for the next two years. In the continuation of its presentation, Prime Minister Oniwab Allen Chastney placed his attention on the initiative to increase and improve its diverse construction in the country to facilitate its major operation. According to Prime Minister Chastney, the plan is to reinforce its diverse development in the country to support economic, touristy, and agricultural activities that will be available for the next six years. Prime Minister Chastney, this is the sixth phase of the necessary to lead the Salar program. This will enable the development of the Vilcastruy, the Vilcastruy, the Vilcastruy, and the development of the Vilcastruy, and the development of the Vilcastruy, and the development of the Vilcastruy, to develop your facilities, to change the container of the GID, and to make it possible for you to travel to other countries to increase the guard facilities for the tourists in the city of Kastruy, to develop your touristy in the city of Vilcastruy. The development of the Nef, with the protection of international human rights, to buy services for a million passengers in the year 2022. But that, if the Prime Minister, as Prime Minister Chastney, who found attention in the financial year, if the development of the Vilcastruy, to develop your facilities, and the development of the international human rights, to buy services for a million passengers in the year 2020. If you want to know more about the novel, I would like to invite you to watch it. If you want to know more about it, I would like to invite you to watch the novel. See you in the next episode, and I will see you in the next episode. During the next 24 hours. The tide for Kastruy's harbor was low at 4.03 p.m. and will be high again at 11 p.m. The tide for V4 Bay was low at 5.30 p.m. and will be high again at 12.07 a.m. Seas slide to moderate with waves 3 to 5 feet or 0.9 to 1.5 meters. The sun will rise Saturday at 5.44 a.m. And that brings us to the end of the NTN Nightly. Join us next time at 7 p.m. with a repeat at 7 a.m. You can also catch up with us anytime on the St. Lucia government Facebook page or YouTube channel. I'm Lucia Charles.