Basseterre, St. Kitts, Tuesday, February 25, 2025: The Ministry of Education continues its commitment to school safety with the ongoing distribution of fire extinguishers to various schools across St. Kitts. This initiative is part of the Model Safe School Programme, which is funded by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA). 

During the latest handover ceremony, Focal Point for the Safe School Programme, Dr. Tricia Esdaille emphasized the importance of having safe schools in St. Kitts.

“With regards to the Ministry of Education and its Safe School Programme, we continue to work within our schools in various ways each academic year. This year as we look to build our program, we continue to work with the nine pilot schools, and they are the recipients of fire extinguishers. The receipt of the fire extinguishers is the first phase. Over the course of this academic year, we look to have training within all our schools that receive fire extinguishers on how to use them effectively.” 

She further explained that the Ministry of Education is looking at the next phase of the project which includes, a federal approach to school safety, building more community connections, the development of school safety plans for all schools, school safety drills and capacity building for staff and students so that they can respond to incidents in schools. 

School Principals expressed their gratitude for the provision of fire extinguishers, acknowledging the significance of this initiative in ensuring the safety of students and staff. They also committed to mounting the extinguishers securely and ensuring that, if ever needed, they would be used correctly. 

The Ministry of Education remains dedicated to strengthening emergency preparedness in schools, with this latest initiative reinforcing the overall objective of creating safer learning environments for all.