MSSP Roadshow: Region-wide Initiative for Safe Schools

(EMU) – St. Kitts, December 4, 2018: Hundreds of children benefitted from the Model Safe Schools roadshow last week, 26-30 November.

The Model Safe Schools Project (MSSP) was designed to, among other things, enhance the capacity of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Lucia to incorporate and mainstream comprehensive risk and disaster management considerations in education sector policies, planning and operations.

Roadshows were conducted in selected countries and addressed key topics which included the importance of school safety and safety drills and being prepared for crisis both at school and home.

The students were treated to performances by the MSSP mascot, fire and rescue officers local artiste, Byron Messiah who spoke to the students on the importance of safety and what they should do in the event of an emergency or disaster.

The initiative was developed by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and adopted by St. Kitts and Nevis in March 2018. The toolkit guides government(s) on the development of National Safe School Policies, and to offer tools for assessing the level of safety and greening of schools in order to address some of the evident vulnerabilities of the education sector.

Senior Officials within the Ministry of Education were on hand to witness the exercises and preside over the event.

They included Focal point for the initiative and Senior Assistant Secretary, Dr. Tricia Esdaille, William Hodge, Permanent Secretary in Education and Sylvester Charles, Education Officer.

The project is set to continue in 2019 with training to take place of a cadre of professionals in carrying out building safety assessments, the utilization of the MSSP data entry and reporting electronic application, and in the carrying out of a full-scale Model Safe School Programme safety and green assessment.

The selected schools were the Washington Archibald High, Tyrell Williams Primary, Dieppe Bay Primary, Charlestown and Gingerland Secondary Schools.

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