Published 25 May 2020
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
Government ensured students evacuated from Jamaica continued with their education while in quarantine
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, May 25, 2020 (PLP PR Media Inc.) — The 53 students who were evacuated from Jamaica in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic have successfully completed their time in quarantine where they were also afforded the opportunity to continue with their studies and are safely back with their families, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, the Hon Shawn Richards.
“We had students in Jamaica and as more and more persons became infected (with Covid-19) in Jamaica, we decided to move those students from Jamaica,” said the Hon Richards at a Team Unity virtual public meeting on Sunday evening May 24.
The government of St. Kitts and Nevis acted prudently when at the height of the coronavirus pandemic it evacuated 53 St. Kitts and Nevis students from that Caribbean nation on a special chartered flight at a cost of US$75,000 (EC$203,000) to the Team Unity Government. The students arrived at the RL Bradshaw International Airport on Thursday April 30.
According to the Hon Richards, the students arrived here with the knowledge that they would have to go into a two-week quarantine period at a government facility.
“The fact is the government does not have a quarantine facility and it meant that the government had to find some place in order to quarantine those students,” said the Deputy Prime Minister at the virtual public meeting that was chaired by the Minister of Tourism the Hon Lindsay Grant. It was also addressed by Prime Minister Dr the Hon Timothy Harris, and the Minister of Public Infrastructure the Hon Ian Patches Liburd.
Hon Richards explained that the government spent thousands of dollars to rent space at the Ocean Terrace Inn (OTI) for those students to be quarantined. He noted that before the students came they had messaged him saying that they had classes and exams and so they were going to need internet service.
Since the OTI had been closed and internet already disconnected, the Team Unity Government ensured that those students were able to continue with their education for the fourteen days they were to spend in quarantine by installing internet service at the facility.
“I was there the Friday (May 15) when the students were sent home, and all of the students reported that they had quite a comfortable time being quarantined at the OTI,” said the Honourable Deputy Prime Minister. “This is a government which has responded,”
“But it is not just the students from Jamaica,” added the Hon Richards. “We have had students in the USA and elsewhere who said to us ‘we were working and the money that we received we used it to help to pay rent, to help to buy food, and to meet certain expenses, and because of Covid-19, we lost those jobs’. We said okay, we will also assist those students and so the students were asked to complete an application and again the government has responded.”
According to the Minister of Education, initially when the applications came to the ministry, they had very basic information. The ministry made a decision to reformat the application process, because it was recognised that all students, regardless of whether or not they were affected were applying, and the Ministry of Education had to straighten that out.
“It is for those students who have been affected, and my information is that to date we have paid about $50,000 to students overseas, because each student has received $1,000 and we have committed to doing that for at least three months,” said the Hon Richards. “Again, this is a government responding to persons in their times of need.”
