Community After School Programme Inspires SLHTA Executive

Press/Articles

Ministry of Social Transformation hosts CASP site visit for sponsors.

 

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Castries, Saint Lucia. January 22, 2014: Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Social Transformation, Local Government & Community Empowerment, Ms. Juliana Alfred and Executive Vice President of the Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association, Mr. Noorani Azeez participated in a tour of two Community After School Programme (CASP) centres in the Castries basin on Tuesday January 20, 2015.

The touring party visited the Faux-a-Chaux and Ciceron CASP Centres. SLHTA Executive Vice President, Mr. Noorani Azeez engaged facilitators and students in discussion about their experiences, while pointedly inviting suggestions for the programme’s development. Mr. Azeez noted his intention to advocate on behalf of the CASP, in pooling resources to ensure its sustainability.

Participants of the Faux-a-Chaux CASP put on a brief performance for the visitors, likewise the Ciceron CASP participants demonstrated their skill in elocution and dance. Centre Supervisor Mrs. Clara Paul noted some praiseworthy achievements of the programme, citing promising feedback from school teachers on improvements in the performance, attitude and deportment of CASP students.

“When children are involved in programs like these that allow them to feel more special in the grand scheme of things, it propels them to aspire to more,” Mr. Azeez noted. “I have been inspired by this experience, and look forward to sharing it with the rest of the SLHTA, so that we can create more synergies with the private sector to support this initiative.”

Mr. Noorani Azeez encouraged the students to gather and share everything they learn with their families and friends, making the assertion that the success of the CASP is determined by how students apply the knowledge acquired through the programme.

To date, the SLHTA has supported the CASP through the provision of funding in the amount of EC$70,000.00 to ensure the continued operation of this extremely beneficial service to youth in vulnerable communities. Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Social Transformation, Local Government and Community Empowerment, Ms. Juliana Alfred expressed gratitude to the SLHTA for its invaluable assistance to some of the country’s most impressionable citizens.