Ministry of Youth Continues to Develop Young People through Social Programmes
NIA-CHARLESTOWN, NEVIS (May 9TH, 2011) — Chattabox, Nevisian Pearls, Positive Moves, Bikes not Bombs and Reading Starts With Us “help to develop the young people of Nevis.”
The social programmes, together with developmental initiatives such as summer job attachments and homework assistance, are geared towards “mobilising the young people of the country to positive action.”
This is the view of Nevis’ Minister of Youth the Honourable Hensley Daniel, who, during a recent address, commended the Youth Division within the Department of Social Services for its “unwavering commitment to the development of young people.”
Chatterbox, described as “an interactive programme for young people to share their views,” airs weekly on Nevis Television’s Channel 8 and is hosted by Youth Development Officer Ms. Shoya Lawrence.
The Nevisian Pearls Programme, according to Minister Daniel, “helps to equip young girls to increase their capacity to make sound decisions” while Positive Moves “targets males to promote positive action on their part.”
“Character building and personality development” is the focus for the Bikes not Bombs programme with the presentation of bikes, to students, as incentives for good behaviour.”
The summer job attachment scheme, Minister Daniel highlighted, continues to place upper-level secondary school students in the employment industry to prepare them for “the world of work.”
The reading starts with us programme which “builds a culture of reading in the society,” has brought families closer as “parents and children learn to read together” while the homework assistance programme “better equips young people to perform at school.”
In his government’s quest to “transmit a wide range of learning opportunities to facilitate lifelong learning and to safeguard the country against poverty and underdevelopment,” the Youth Minister challenged Nevisians to “be more positive in their thinking.”
“Let us look at ourselves as a society: look at what we are doing for the young people and look at how we can redirect today’s young people.
“As we go forward, we need people at all levels of education and training to establish a sound base for economic development,” Minister Daniel said.
In addition to serving as Youth Minister, the Honourable Hensley Daniel holds responsibility for health, gender, culture, sports, community and social affairs, trade and industry and information technology.