NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (November 18, 2019) — Hon. Troy Liburd, Junior Minister of Education in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA), sang the praises of two primary school students who emerged triumphant in the local leg of the 10th annual OECS Courts Reading Competition which was held at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort on November 13, 2019.

The junior minister invited both students, the winner from the Maude Crosse Preparatory School and third place winner from the Elizabeth Pemberton Primary School, to his office on November 18, 2019, in a show of appreciation on his behalf and that of the Ministry and Department of Education.

“I am very happy this morning to be here at my office and to invite our champions, Khaleed and Rondre, who copped the third place and the champion place, respectively, in the just completed Courts Reading Completion…Rondre being the champion he will now go on to represent the Federation and I believe, as I think all of us do, that the Federation is in safe hands with Rondre.

“I want to say a very, very special congratulations to you for winning and of course to you Khaleed for placing third, and it makes me feel even better now to know that you were the only two boys in the competition and you represented well, placing first and placing third overall, so I thought that it was fitting to invite both of you here…I think it’s tremendous when our young people go out to represent and they excel that we show our appreciation to them, that we show love to them and that we let them know they have really accomplished something good, so that they would want to go on and do more. I think it is fitting here today,” he said.

The minister presented both students with tokens of appreciation and urged them to continue to strive for excellence.

“We have gotten you a small award to go with your trophies, and I want to encourage you to continue to strive to be excellent. Continue to strive to win in whatever you do. So again congratulations to you both. Congratulations to the schools, the parents and to all of us here in Nevis. It’s a feel good moment for us,” he said.

Mr. Liburd singled out Rondre’s parents Mr. and Mrs. Ron Daniel for what he described as their good parenting skills.

“It shows that good parenting goes a long way to raising children, who grow up to become good citizens contributing to what happens in the Federation. I think this is a victory for good parenting and many of us, many others could take example from the Daniels.

“I think they are always out supporting their children and not only their children they are always out supporting others as well. So I want to say kudos to you both again,” he said.

Meantime, Mr. Kevin Barrett, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, added his voice to the minister’s commendations.

“What a pleasant morning we had congratulating our champion readers, and I must say that I had the privilege of being a judge on our local leg and I was really and truly impressed with both of our readers, especially Mr. Daniel and it was really no surprise to me that he would have gone on to be champion for our leg of the competition.

“I would just like to thank all those who came this morning to support and show appreciation to our youngsters and on behalf of the minister, the ministry and department we wish them all the best in the finals and we are hoping that they would indeed bring home more trophies… Mr. Daniel I know he would represent well, and we are hoping to see something bigger on our table the next time we are here, we would be saying Champion of the OECS Courts Reading Competition,” he said.

Also present were Ms. Zahnela Claxton, Principal Education Officer, other Education Officers, princpals and teachers of the winning schools.