News
Are we doing everything within our power in TCI, to avoid creating a school to prison pipeline?
#TurksandCaicos, January 31, 2023 – These are harsh words to hear, but in a climate where it appears the jails are filling up faster then the schools, we must sound the alarm.
In any given year, we have hundreds of high school graduates leaving their comfort zones with absolutely nothing to do in these beautiful by nature islands. A very small minority are able to find jobs. Some of the brilliant scholars are often lucky to be awarded the Chevening scholarship, while others may have families in a position to send them off to the local community college or abroad to continue their studies. What about the majority who are not as fortunate? Where are the hands-on talent workshops available to assist students that may have fallen behind academically?
Building that school to college or trade talent pipeline to attract high school students before they complete their final year is of paramount. We have got to find better ways to augment a pathway forward on this. Paring the immigration department with labor and offering free 2 year college tuition were both smart moves by this administration. It allows the department heads and leaders to work hand in hand to identify areas of need and be in a better position to bridge those needed gaps.
What more can be done for struggling parents or those where English may not be their first language? Challenges like this may put students at a disadvantage to excel or for parents to assist them academically.
Are there any available after school programs? Where there is hope for a better life and constructive things to do, our young people will not be attracted to senseless acts of violence.
Finding ways and means to help students identify and develop their skill sets earlier in life, will also help to prepare them for the next step in their career path. What’s even more important, is for teachers and administrators to recognize when a student is screaming out for help; often times it’s mischaracterized as criminal mischief.
Students who are having behavioral issues at school may be coming from abusive or dysfunctional households. They may also have mental and/or emotional challenges, and need an intervention that is focused on their specific needs. We should be doing everything within our power to avoid students from being exposed to the criminal justice system.
In order for a transformation like this to take place, it will certainly require more community-led solutions, parental involvement and stronger support and commitment from civic leaders.
What’s troubling to me and many others, is the rate of incarceration the country is currently experiencing, with many involving our youth. What will it take to shift this trajectory? Is trade school one of the long term solutions? Just take a look around the country, the mechanism that’s driving our workforce are trade and service related jobs. We should be advocating more for studies in these areas. Inherently, despite some of our youth being dealt a hard hand in life, most want to succeed; they just need an opportunity.
Many of our young men and women may not have any interest in attending college or university, but have acquired other skills over the years. Therefore, what opportunities do we have for this segment of the population in terms of further education or trade?
I’m of the opinion, that there are many on-the-job workers who possess untapped skills that only need to be cultivated in their area of interest or expertise.
With that being said, offering vocational education will allow students and young adults to gain the necessary practical experience with a renewed focus in their chosen field of study or career path. This is something they may have otherwise never been able to achieve through traditional classroom learning in academia.
In the 2021 PNP manifesto under education, labor and employment, it clearly states their commitment to the following:
“Create learning opportunities for students that caters to different interest, strengths and learning needs as well as provide the diverse skills that the country requires”.
Henceforth, it’s my belief government should make further provisions to subsidize apprenticeships for our young people, so it becomes more then just platitudes.
Let’s give credit where credit is due, the previous administration was on the right track when a proposal was made to launch a vocational technical school. Unfortunately, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic may have hampered those efforts.
Nevertheless, the idea was brilliant! Let’s put politics aside, this current administration should continue to work extremely hard to embark on this initiative and see that it materializes. It is my belief the return on investment would be priceless.
So, how do we attract more foreign investors in this particular area?
It’s complicated because in most cases, foreign investors are looking for businesses that can generate the fastest return on their investments. With that in mind, it would be in the best interest of our country to offer huge incentives on initiatives such as this to make it more attractive to would be investors.
For example: Annually, a foreign company is hired to come in to train and certify our boat captains on primarily
international boating standards. Depending on the location and whether it’s a new or recertification, the cost could range anywhere from $360-$650 per person, in addition to travel and hotel accommodations.
With ecotourism being the bread and butter for TCI, in addition to having some of the best and brightest boat captains, perhaps this could be a customized curriculum or certification offered at a local trade school. This particular curriculum should include but not limited to, local regulations best practices and navigational charts for local waters to help mariners better understand the skills they are learning. This could also be a joint effort between the school, DECR/Fisheries department and TCI Sailing Association, with qualifying personnel to assist with facilitating such training.
Other courses of interest should be offered to include hospitality management, marine mechanics, welders, carpentry, AC technicians etc. Especially trade areas where it would give students an opportunity for apprenticeship on the islands. Not only will we have a higher level of skilled workers and tradesmen, but it will help to alleviate the need for such high dependency on foreign labor force, in addition to providing a readily available recruitment source.
In short, it is of my opinion, alternative education should always trump building more prisons. Failure to see beyond the erection of hotels, motels and villas in these islands, will leave us with no alternative but to build more prisons. Wouldn’t that be a shame!
Let’s give our youth a fighting chance! As concerned citizens, we have a choice to make, stay silent or let our collective voices be heard. This is what helps to drive governments to action.
Ed Forbes,
Concerned citizen of Grand Turk
NASSAU, The Bahamas – Participants of the Ministry of Social Services, Information and Broadcasting’s Camp Inclusion, including the camp’s student advocates, recently toured Nassau Cruise Port in a move designed to produce multiple benefits for the children.
Camp officials said the tour was part of the “moving away” from the old tradition of keeping children with disabilities locked away at home, and towards greater social inclusion for persons with disabilities – especially children.
Facilitated by the Community Affairs Division of the Ministry of Social Services, Information and Broadcasting at the Flamingo Gardens Family Life Centre, the camp is a collaborative effort between the Ministry, its Community Affairs and Disability Affairs Divisions, the Bahamas Coalition of Advocates for Disability Awareness and Service (BaCADAS), and the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD). The majority of the Camp Instructors are persons with disabilities.
The Camp is in keeping with the Global Family Day 2024 theme of “Embracing Diversity, Strengthening Families,” and is an extension of the Ministry’s continued efforts to take the lead in ensuring access and inclusion for all — particularly the community of persons with disabilities — in every aspect of society.
Children with different levels and types of disabilities, along with student advocates, participated. Its focus was to ensure that participating youth learn about living with mobility and intellectual disabilities, advocacy, inclusion and accessibility.
Mr. Townsley Roberts, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Secretariat of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, said
the visit is expected to have a number of expected outcomes.
“It was very important to get the kids out and for them to see parts of the island that they rarely get a chance to experience,” Mr. Roberts said. “It was also an opportunity for them to feel a part of the Bahamian society because many times they are kept at home or just in the classroom (and) so this gives them a chance to spread their wings; an opportunity to dream. You never know, something they saw today can spark their imaginations and some may become artists, want to work in the tourism field or even just to try and experience a cruise. The ability to dream, to feel a part of society, to feel included, is important to the growth of all children, including persons with disabilities.”
Mr. Roberts applauded officials at Nassau Cruise Port for agreeing to the tour, which he said also allowed chaperones to inform the student advocates of some of the aspects that makes a facility accessible and inclusive.
“We are so happy that the Cruise Port allowed us the opportunity to come and tour the facility. As the name of the camp goes, what we are promoting is inclusion — total inclusion in all aspects of Bahamian society including the culture, and the open spaces. We want to make sure that all spaces are accessible and one of the things we know, because we had the opportunity to inspect the cruise port, is that the Port is accessible to persons with disabilities. So why not bring the children – including the student advocates — here as a means of helping them to understand and to witness first-hand what accessibility means and how it, or the lack of accessibility, affects the lives of persons with disabilities.”
Mr. Antoine Munroe, a Camp Instructor and employee of the Disability Affairs Division of the Ministry of Social Services, Information and Broadcasting, said access and inclusion ensures that every person is able to achieve the same outcomes whether in social, educational, or employment settings, and are the best methods of ensuring that persons with disabilities are given the same opportunities to participate in society. He applauded the inclusion of the student advocates in the camp.
“It is a passion of my own to see young people included and exposed to the life of persons with disabilities. Being able to tour the facility gave me an understanding of how I can use my cane to move about with a little assistance and I thought that was very, very smooth. I congratulate those persons who were able to cause this to happen, and also the persons in charge of the Nassau Cruise Port. I think this is a very good step in the right direction,” Mr. Munroe added.
Release: BIS
(BIS Photos/Patrice Johnson)
Bahamas News
National Commission for Persons with Disabilities gauges ‘accessibility’ at ZNS, BIS as part of ongoing inspection schedule
NASSAU, The Bahamas – Inspectors attached to the Inspectorate Division of the Secretariat of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD) conducted assessments of the facilities at the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas, and Bahamas Information Services, Tuesday (July 23) as part of their ongoing efforts to ensure that all public facilities, and those private facilities that provide services to members of the public, are accessible for all.
Both entities fall under the remit of the Ministry of Social Services, Information and Broadcasting as does the Secretariat.
The team was headed by Mr. Townsley Roberts, Deputy Executive Secretary, Secretariat of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, and included Mr. G. Michael Ellis, Senior Inspector; Mr. Wesley Paul, Inspector; and Mr. Thorne Clarke, Inspector.
Deputy Executive Secretary Roberts said the inspections were two-fold.
“Today we are inspecting ZNS and BIS which are both a part of the Ministry of Social Services, Information and Broadcasting to ensure that they are accessible because it is our belief that we cannot ask the public to do the things required by law without first ensuring that our entities are also in compliance,” Mr. Roberts said.
“People need to understand that accessibility to persons with disabilities is just as important as it is to persons without a disability. We want to be able to go about your day-to-day business without any obstacles in our way.
“What makes us disabled is the built environment, the barriers in front of us. If you remove those barriers, then we can do many of the same things persons without disabilities can do, and sometimes better. So this is what we are about. We are trying to make The Bahamas a place for all persons (and) where it will be comfortable for persons with disabilities to be able to manoeuvre through buildings and other spaces with the same ease and comfort expected by everyone else.”
The inspection team conducted assessments of wheelchair ramps, bathrooms, office spaces, and parking and reception areas, and measured doorway and hallway widths, in addition to other spaces to ensure that the requirements as set out in the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities) Act, 2014, are met.
Mr. Ellis, who spent 34 years as a member of the Royal Bahamas Police Force before retiring as a Senior Police Officer and who brings that same knowledge of the law to his new role, said the inspections help to ensure that the community of persons with disabilities enjoy the same rights to accessibility as any other citizen.
“Persons with disabilities, including those in wheelchairs, persons with walkers, crutches and those who use other assistive devices such as canes, should be able to move around just like everyone else,” Mr. Ellis said.
“We were looking to make sure that there were accessible bathrooms for both males and females, to ensure that there are proper ramps and that the ramps are the proper sizes, to ensure that all of the offices are accessible and all of the other areas are accessible for persons with disabilities.
“The Act says whatever we, as able bodied persons can do, a person with a disability should be permitted or allowed to do the same without any hindrance. Our job is to ensure that these facilities are in compliance with the Act.”
Once inspections are completed, Adjustment Orders are sent to those facilities/businesses found not to be in compliance with the Act, advising them of any faults, and providing a time-frame for compliance.
(BIS Photos/Anthon Thompson)
Release: Bahamas Information Services
PHOTO CAPTIONS
Header: – ZNS/BCB
Left to right:
1: G. Michael Ellis – Sr. Inspector (NCPD)
2: Thorne Clarke – Inspector (NCPD)
3: Townsley Roberts – Deputy Executive Secretary (NCPD)
4: Wesley Paul – Inspector (NCPD)
5: Carlton Smith – Chief Security Officer (BCB)
Insert: – BIS
Left to right:
1: Elcott Coleby – Director General (BIS)
2: Wesley Paul – Inspector (NCPD)
3: Townsley Roberts – Deputy Executive Secretary (NCPD)
4: Carlton Smith – Chief Security Officer (BCB)
5: Thorne Clarke – Inspector (NCPD)
6: G. Michael Ellis – Sr. Inspector (NCPD)
***MEDIA RELEASE***
July 23rd, 2024.
Around 10:59 am, the Police Control Room received a call of gunshots at a location along the Millennium Highway, Providenciales.
Officers of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force were dispatched and, based on preliminary investigations, were told that the occupant (s) of a red Suzuki Swift was at a business place when another car pulled alongside it, and the occupants started shooting.
The driver of the Swift drove off while the other unidentified vehicle sped off in a separate direction. 
Officers found the Swift abandoned near Miracle Close, Blue Hills, shortly after.
Based on investigations, no injuries were reported.
This remains an active investigation.
The RT&CIPF is asking anyone with information or CCTV footage of the shooting that may assist the police with enquiries to contact 911, the closest police station, the Serious Crime Unit at 231-1842, or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-8477 and anonymously give any information.
Additionally, persons are being asked to download the Crime Stoppers P3 app.
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