Published 23rd October 2020
Buckie Got It, Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
During a time when citizens and residents of St. Kitts and Nevis, like millions around the world, are adversely impacted financially by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister and Parliamentary Representative for Constituency Seven, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, again stepped forward to provide much needed financial assistance to close to 100 school students.
This was done through the 17th annual Help-a-Child Scholarship Programme, an initiative of Prime Minister Harris that provided a bursary of $500 to 95 students who have demonstrated academic potential. The 17th installment of the prime minister’s legacy initiative was held at the Mount Carmel Baptist Church on Thursday, October 22.
Prime Minister Harris has long maintained that a proper education is the best gift that one can give to a child, and as such has committed to continuing his assistance to the educational advancement of the nation’s youth for as long as he can.
The prime minister said, “We’ve been doing this for 17 long years because we believe in what we are doing, and we are impressed when we look to see what has become of some of those who would have benefited from this particular programme.”
The honourable prime minister reflected on his own educational journey and recalled that throughout those years he too benefited from the generous assistance of others.
“I shall recall that when it was time to sit the CXC and GSE, which were newly introduced, it was a kind friend who would have paid my examination fees, so I have lived it about people giving back and that is why when we introduced this [Help-a-Child programme] I said ‘the best gift we can give to our young people is the gift of a quality education,” Dr. Harris stated.
Moreover, Prime Minister Harris said that his Team Unity administration continues to make substantial investments in the education sector, evident by the significant budgetary allocation made to the Ministry of Education annually.
“The education which we want to have being purveyed in our schools must educate and encourage our young people towards production and productivity, and of course responsibility. These boys and girls are going to be the next set of ambassadors, honorary consuls, police officers, nurses, doctors, businessmen and women making a productive contribution to St. Kitts and Nevis. And in the world of technology and in this minimizing world, if you will, the sky is the limit and there is no limit to our reach unless we impose those limits on ourselves,” the prime minister added.
During Thursday’s ceremony, students of the Joshua Obadiah Williams Primary School presented Prime Minister Harris with a plaque in recognition of his years of dedicated and unwavering commitment to the educational development of young people, through his Help-a-Child Programme.
