Basseterre— Under the Model Safe School Programme launched by the Ministry of Education of St. Kitts and Nevis, fire extinguishers have been distributed to all schools across the twin-island federation.
The initiative has been taken to make the schools safer for the students. The fire extinguishes project has been funded by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).
Recently, a handover ceremony was organized at one of the schools in the Federation where the secretary of the Ministry of Education and focal point for the same school program, Dr. Tricia Esdaille, said that it was essential for the Ministry of Education to equip the schools with firefighting equipment to make these buildings safer for the students.
She said that each year under this program, the government promotes various initiatives, and this year, it has been decided to equip the schools with firefighting equipment. She said under phase one of this initiative, fire extinguishers have been provided to 9 schools across the Federation, and in the coming months, special training sessions will be organized to train the staff at the schools for using this equipment.
Under this training program, both the staff and the students will be trained to deal with any situation resulting from an outbreak of fire on the school premises. Under this training, the students will learn how to respond to any eventuality arising from the spread of fire on the school premises.
She said that the Ministry of Education was also developing comprehensive school safety plans under which regular drills will be conducted across all schools in the twin island federation. Such activity will prepare the students and the staff to remain vigilant and to deal with any emergency situation.
Responding to the initiative taken by the Ministry of Education, school principals expressed their gratitude for arranging the fire extinguishers. The school principals stated that this was critical equipment that must be installed at all strategic locations within the school premises.
