 Welcome to NTN Nightly, I am Janelle Norvell, this edition's top stories. The island's education minister says the decision to return students to the classroom was taken with due care and consideration. The DVRP lent support to Nemo's Operations Centre and staff of the Respiratory Hospital have pitted with a more comfortable space. The nation's students returned to the classroom with the reopening of the second school term on Monday, January 11, 2021, after months of closure. The Department of Education, Innovation and Generations continues to engage all stakeholders within the education sector amid the fluid nature of COVID-19. Minister for Education Honourable Dr. Gil Rigabet, during a press conference on Monday, reiterated the importance of consultation, especially during this time. She called on all stakeholders to engage their respective leaders and heads of department, as they would have been part of the consultation meetings and the decision-making process. The sharing of information and decisions taken the minister stressed is critical. On all of the engagements that we've had, Mrs. Eugene, who's the head of the school councillors, sits in on that meeting and she then would relay to her membership her team, the councillors, that which pertains to them. In the same way, for example, Ms. Prince is the Education Officer for Early Childhood Education and sits in on all of our engagements and she, too, will therefore pass on to that information to both private and public administrators or owners of what we call pre-schools or Early Childhood Education Officers. In the same spirit in which, for example, Mrs. Sergei, who oversees our special education institution, sits in on these meetings and then passes on the information and engages persons in his particular sub-sector. So I want to thank all of those team leads, some of whom I have not mentioned, for your full participation and I trust that in your own way, too, you will continue to engage with your sub-sectors. The Minister of Education emphasised that the safety of students, teachers and other school staff remain paramount and as such, a number of measures have been undertaken to ensure their safety. One such measure is the boosting of the school's cleaning regimen. We have embellished, improved, emphasised our cleaning programme throughout the week. In fact, additionally, for consideration by the Ministry of Finance, is that a provision be made for extending the hours of janitors, caretakers, so as to accommodate that additional cleaning. And we will see that rule out in the new fiscal year, but in the meantime, the concerns should be under way in which we should consider it. It is not that cleaning is reserved for one day a week, but rather is a complete embrace of the need to ensure a comprehensive cleaning, not that we weren't cleaning before, but that the effort be amplified throughout the week. Education Minister Honourable Dr Rigabet highlighted other measures that have been undertaken to ensure all protocols are adhered to and safety prevails. Evidently, to allow for us to adhere to the protocols that pertain to the transportation sector, we've had to consider the inclusion of additional buses, so as to allow for us to meet that requirement within the transportation sector. Education Minister Honourable Dr Rigabet. Meanwhile Prime Minister the Honourable Alan Shastney has welcomed the reopening of the second school term to the physical setting. Noting the importance of returning students to the classroom, Honourable Shastney says he is proud of all stakeholders in the education sector, including the St. Lucia Teachers Union. Why am I proud? I'm proud fact that we have not complained and tried to develop protocols to allow kids to get back to school. I don't think any one of us can argue the importance of that. Going around and just meeting kids, some kids I have to say to you have really excelled on the online schooling. I've heard of some kids who were not doing well prior in the old system and have really just been able to take advantage, but sadly I think that those are too far in few between. A lot of the kids are missing the interaction. We also know that parents themselves are struggling with the anxiety of what's taking place economically and then having their little ones at home and the pressure that's being put on them to assist their kids in their homework and in their education. That's not underestiming the impact that that has had. Adhering to the protocols Prime Minister Shastney says ensures protection. As was the case at the Cassary's Comprehensive Secondary School, where a student tested positive for COVID-19 last September. Honourable Shastney says all information shows that the student did not affect anyone at the school. We also know that the child who was affected did not get COVID on one of the school campuses. In fact, he brought it in with him. And so therefore again it's reinforcement that the protocols worked. I am proud of the fact that when we discovered that the immediate decision was to suspend school because we didn't want to put anyone in harm's way. So I want to reassure all the parents and the children that this government will always put you at the top of the pyramid and your health and safety. But as we have said nationally that this is about not only saving lives but saving livelihoods. Going to school is a livelihood. And when you think of the amount of time that kids have had to be out of classrooms and if in fact that the country has been successful enough in its protocols that the CMO believes that there is no imminent threat. Then we should take advantage of the hard work that we've put in here and try to get our kids back to school. The Prime Minister says he understands some parents may be apprehensive about sending their children back to school but he hopes within a short time they would build confidence in the knowledge that the protocols work and do protect. The disaster vulnerability reduction project DVRP has lent much needed support to the National Emergency Management Organization NIMO. How many more pills are seen? See enthusiasts at risk from natural man-made and slow onset hazards. Some of the natural disasters include hurricanes, flooding, landslides, seismic and volcanic activity. The man-made hazards relate to dam collapse, explosions, oil and hazardous materials, bills, mass casualty, civil unrest, fires and information and communication technology disruptions. Additionally, the island is at risk to slow onset hazards that include droughts, plagues and the predicted effects of global climate change. When disasters strike, the National Emergency Management Authority NIMO activates the National Emergency Operations Center where coordination of all disasters is handled with a very team depending on the nature of the disaster. However, for Eons, the Emergency Operations Center has been functioning with little to no resources to manage such a mammoth task. What we have is a shell and it is functional but its functionality can be severely increased. When people are in here and the NUC is activated, you have issues with getting information. So information being feed into the NUC that is lacking because of your communications. With the support of the World Bank Group, the Disaster Vulnerability Project and the Department of Economic Development, the Operations Center will receive the latest audio visual equipment and computers. All with CASAP's fiber connected internet with a duplicate system from flu to ensure continuity of service during a disaster. An off-site backup service system has also been provided to ensure seamless continuity. Through the contingent emergency response component, the Operations Center is also being provided logistical support through the procurement of a 4x4 double cab pickup for disaster planning and response. NEMO also received 371 1000 gallon water tanks for shelters and response agencies like police, fire and bodily correctional facility. NEMO has distributed these water tanks to schools, churches, human resource centers and the National Council for Persons with Disabilities. 85 radios and 8 base stations were also procured under the DVRP project to assist the health system and NEMO. Our collaboration with DVRP through the World Bank is that there were funds which were identified post Hurricane Thomas for use for disaster purposes. What we found out last year was that the funds were not used as yet. So therefore we met together as a team and decided what were the needs of the NEMO and NEMO as a whole. In addition to upgrading equipment at the National Emergency Operations Center through the DVRP contingent emergency response component, work will be done to design and build a comprehensive disaster information management system in order to enhance NEMO's ability to collect, store, access and analyze data. This will ultimately enable NEMO to better fulfill its mandate and support data driven comprehensive disaster management. The DVRP funding will also be used for critical capacity building and training. So one of the training that we are going to do is the community emergency response training. So we are going to make teams available to the various communities and bring some of the capabilities at the NASA level to the community level. So we are going to train some of the community members in some search and rescue, fire suppression, medical attention. So those are things that they can do at their community so they are able to now assist themselves. Unsolicited donations are the worst because it really and surely it impedes what you are trying to do. You really want to know from the community what has happened to them and what is it that they need. So you at the NASA level can make the resource available to them. So part of that is so the second part of the training is the damage assessment. The third part of the training is the mass casualty management which looks at medical interventions when something has happened. So you have a lot of casualties, how do you treat wounds, how do you take care of persons initially before again before the national system can get there. In total, US$685,000 was allocated by the World Bank through the DVRP to the National Emergency Management Authority. From the Government Information Service, the MediMark reporting. The staff lounge of the Victoria Hospital now transformed into the respiratory hospital received a much needed facelift. Moindesh report from Funnel Neptune. The main staff lounge of the respiratory hospital experienced a complete redesign aimed at creating a more relaxed and comfortable area for the staff. The initiative sought to express gratitude to the hard-working staff of the respiratory hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Writing Legends, a youth development social enterprise undertook the initiative of a redesign. Operations manager of Writing Legends, Yasmin Butcher, announced that the generous enterprise was conceived because of the Giving Tuesday movement. Giving Tuesday is recognized globally on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving in the US, which was on the 1st of December last year, 2020. And it kicks off a month-long Giving and Generosity campaign in the eastern Caribbean islands known as Giving Tuesday Eastern Caribbean. So for this Giving Tuesday Writing Legends paid-forward campaign, we included three projects in St. Lucia. The first one was making holiday care packages for the girls at the new beginnings transit home. The second one was a Secret Santa cash and goods donation drive. And the third one was this renovation at the respiratory hospital staff lounge. Executive Director of the Owen King EU Hospital and the Victoria Hospital, Nancy Francis, recognized the dedication, hard work and personal sacrifice of the medical frontline staff at the Victoria Hospital. We want to demonstrate to them that we have taken steps to provide them with the basic requirements as mandated by law and the collective agreement. But we are going further by ensuring that they have a conducive and a relaxing environment so they can distress during the breaks or on the lunch hour. The staff lounge was redesigned with the theme Tropical Escape. Reporting from the Ministry of Health and Wellness, I am Funa Neptune. This is NTIA Nightly. Stay with us. Primers Hutchinson is up next with the NTIA Nouvelle of We All. COVID-19 is a new pandemic disease as declared by the World Health Organization. It is transmitted directly by respiratory droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes or indirectly through rubbing the face with contaminated hands. There is still no specific treatment or vaccine against COVID-19 and as such, the farming community should adhere to some special recommendations. Stock up on essentials such as animal feed, fertilizers, pesticides enough to last for about 30 days. Stock up on fuel and oils for farm equipment. Ensure that tools and vehicles are serviced to prevent breakdowns and to ensure that farming and food production remain steady. And protect yourself and your workers by ensuring you take all necessary precautions to remain healthy. More than ever before, your important role as gatekeepers of St. Lucia's nutritional health and food security should be taken seriously. When you exercise these precautions, you not only safeguard your health but also continue to allow St. Lucia's access to freshly grown fruits, vegetables and other local crops. Remember, it is our responsibility to ensure our nation eats fresh St. Lucia's best. Welcome back. We join Primers Hutchinson for the NTIA Nouvelle of We All. Thank you very much, Channel. Thank you, Madam Department, University of St. Lucia. We form a government-settled CGIS Actile Vision National for the NTIA Nouvelle of We All, Primes Hutchinson. Welcome to the University of St. Lucia, Victoria. I am glad to have you here today. I wish you all the best of luck in the future. Welcome to the University of St. Lucia. Thank you very much. And so I came to the movement of goodwill, because I served one day in May to help assist others who were given Tuesdays. That's why I did that. So, in the end, given Tuesdays, it was someone who was recognized by the people on the ground. And then I was able to observe things given in America. I was able to pass the first week of December, in the middle of the day. Then I started doing activities, and I was able to help assist others in a diverse way. And then I was able to attend the writing and writing classes. I did three projects here. We have a commission to set up a new beginnings transit home. We have a new city called Masha-Diz. We have a new city called Chamblupital Victoria. We have a new city called Okaeyu. We have a new city called Victoria. We have a new city called Francis. We have a new city called Wedd. We also have a new medical assistant. They work and work for the Victoria Hospital. We have a new hospital. We have a new hospital. We have a new hospital. We have a new hospital. We have a new hospital. But in this place, there are a lot of jobs we cannot afford, we have to work and work at the same time, when we have to start our work. a period to avoid when they were degenated. To have this education Dr. Piona Meyer declared that in any situation like I always do I would like to thank the Minister of Education for addressing the questions raised after the call was discussed. Dr. Meyer declared that the Minister of Education declared that in a situation like this the call was very important to pay attention to this. Thank you for the call Thank you for the family who attended this and who were able to do this with us. With all this work that I talk about there's no one to organize this I'm happy to be able to manage this even though We are different because we are mothers. But all of this, we have to try to educate, educate this mother, educate ourselves so that we have good information, so that we can do what is most possible, so that we can keep our mother healthy and also educate our mother. Speaking of the Ministry of Education, I am Dr. Gil Rigobot. We are going to force the marches that I have in place to protect the students. A consideration of the many diseases that have increased since the end of this week. We are going to have a lot of fun here. Excuse me. We are going to start the lessons in every school that has passed. I am from La Widaling, Kastui. I started to find my own home. I also have a house for all these children who are in these buildings. The corporation that has these buildings. So, in this apartment, there are a lot of children who live in these boutiques. This is happening to the children. We are going to approach it and move towards it. The program has been started by the minister of safety, Amadje, Ibut Amadessam. And I am going to go to the Ministry of Education to offer the benefits. This is also an representative of the Kui Palema. In Kastui Central, several flounders have done their job, I would like to explain to you that Pogéa has a lot of benefits in different ways. It is important to address these residents, especially those who are employed. I would like to say that I am very happy to be able to employ all of these people. But I would like to continue this program for Pogéa Potexio Execution for the residents of this city. I would like to thank West Coastal for Pogéa, who is a contractor who appreciates the cooperation between the residents of this city and the people who work here. I would like to thank the residents of this city for their support. I would like to thank them for their support. I would like to thank them for their support. I would like to thank the residents of this city for their support.