 The Government of St. Lucia has made good on another promise to ease the financial burdens of nationals amid the COVID-19 pandemic. First day, the Department of Education held a ceremony for the handing over of payments to principals for facility fees. Details in this report. The parents of students attending public schools have been relieved of the stress of meeting payment for facility fees for the academic year. Prime Minister Hon. Philip J. Pierre, in assuming office July 26, 2021, vowed that his administration in adopting a people-focused agenda would absorb the cost of facility fees for all students at the primary and secondary levels. On Thursday 21st October 2021, the Ministry of Education presented principals with checked payments totaling $2.6 million. Senator Hon. Dr. Pauline Antoine Prosper is a parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training. This gesture is indicative of a government who cares about children, committed to assisting parents with the education of their children, and a government committed to easing the burden of finding resources for the daily operation of schools for principals. I was a school principal for 17 years, and I know the challenges of parents. I watched in the faces of parents when school reopened, and some of them would tell you, Miss, so parents have been suffering. Minister for Education Hon. Sean Edward noted that the learning environment must be comfortable to be effective in reiterating government's commitment to improving their lives of nationals. The Minister underscored the cost involved in delivering quality education and, as such, called for partnerships in sharing that cost. There are countries in the world from the time you are born until you graduate out of university. You do not pay a cent. The state absorbs that cost because they have the capacity to do so. We are not yet there, and as small a step as it might be this morning for the government to be paying facilities fees on behalf of the children of this country, I want to let you know that this is the direction in which we are heading. This is where we want to be. We want a cent. Maybe it may not happen as quickly as we want because of some of the financial constraints we have as a country, but I must let you know that the objective and the ultimate goal is to be in a position one day where, as a country, we can provide quality education to the children of our country at absolutely no cost to the parents or the families from which the children come. The Education Minister also informed that the government promised payment of CSEC fees for the subjects of mathematics and English will be met at the next sitting of the examination. And we are at a very advanced stage where that is concerned and I can tell you this morning that the memo that will be deliberated on at the level of cabinet in terms of the modalities that we use to make the monies available, that memo has been prepared, it has been signed, and I can assure you that it will feature very prominently on the cabinet agenda come Monday morning. There's a lot more we want to do and we will be doing for the education sector, but we cannot do it on our own. I have spoken in the two months that have been entrusted with ministerial responsibility for education about forging that relationship with our stakeholders. In cases where the relationship has already existed, we have to deepen those relationships. The payout of facility fees comes as the minister prepares for the phased reopening of schools on Monday 25 October 2021. Key grade levels will resume in this first instance and include kindergarten, grade six and forms four and five students. The reopening of special education schools has been postponed and a pronouncement on the new date will be made in the coming week. The ministry also wishes to inform that the school feeding program and transportation subsidy program will resume on Monday October 25 2021. Parents and guardians of students who are currently assigned to the transportation subsidy program are asked to know that students will continue with the same drivers as the last academic year. From the Government Information Service, Lisa Joseph reporting.