May 7^th 2019

SKN Forward has learnt of the approval of a new secondary school in St Kitts and Nevis. This school is reportedly to replace the old Basseterre High School located within the environs of the city. The reported issues surrounding the old school are a matter of public discourse. The current Team Unity administration took a decision  to construct an ultramodern one of a kind new secondary school for the students of St Kitts and Nevis.

 According to online reports the school is to be a secondary-level educational facility, located on 13.93 acres of land at Pond’s Estate in the city of Basseterre. This new education project is estimated to cost the tax payers of St Kitts and Nevis some US 30 million dollars.  This figure represents an investment in human capital which is key to the development of small nations such as St Kitts and Nevis.

According to the OECD World Forum 2009, the conventional standard to measure human capital stock has been largely categorized into three parts: Output-, Cost-, and Income-based approach. School enrolment rates, scholastic attainments, adult literacy, and average years of schooling are the examples of output-based approach; cost-based approach is based on calculating costs paid for obtaining knowledge; and income-based approach is closely linked to everyone’s benefits obtained by education and training investment.

The common denominator in all of these is education.  Human capital is intrinsically linked to education. An investment by the Team Unity’s government in education will therefore translate to an investment into human capital.  The Opposition has cited the location as an errant issue but supports the idea of a new school. So, if they agree on the new school lets locate the education project within the context of the development agenda.

This development when juxtaposed to the progress made by the country within the Human Development Index (HDI) has justification. The HDI is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. A long and healthy life is measured by life expectancy. Knowledge level is measured by mean years of education among the adult population, which is the average number of years of education received in a life-time by people aged 25 years and older; and access to learning and knowledge by expected years of schooling for children of school-entry age, which is the total number of years of schooling a child of school-entry age can expect to receive if prevailing patterns of age-specific enrolment rates stay the same throughout the child’s life.

Saint Kitts and Nevis’s HDI value for 2017 is 72 out of 189 countries and territories which puts the country in the high human development category. Between 2005 and 2017, Saint Kitts and Nevis’s HDI value increased from 0.727 to 0.778, an increase of 7.0 percent.  Between 1990 and 2017, Saint Kitts and Nevis’s life expectancy at birth increased by 7.1 years, mean years of schooling increased by 1.2 years and expected years of schooling increased by 1.7 years.  The delivery of the country continues to exceed expectations.  The impetus for the investment in education is there. St Kitts and Nevis needs to further support the progress in the quality of life they are achieving. The region has many examples where the bubble burst on tourism dependent economies while not building out its human capital. The Team Unity government of St. Kitts and Nevis are finding the right mix of policies to deliver for its people.

The school represents a quantum leap in educational services, technology and teacher accommodations. An inquiry revealed  the school will have floor space of near 200 000 sq feet and class rooms to accommodate 1000 students. This size school plant for a country this size is quite bold. The inclusion of a new teachers’ Lounge and Counselling and Health Service Facilities are quite progressive for the new plant.

It stands to reason then that an upgrade in the physical plant in Education is consistent with the new thrust in development agenda of St Kitts and Nevis.  This new school we are advised will house a 1200 minimum seating capacity auditorium & stage, built for purpose, 32 Classrooms, each with a maximum capacity of 30 students, a music center comprising of two dedicated music rooms, four Science labs, six computer labs, a dedicated lecture room and five dedicated vocational workshops.

What’s of note in this delivery of the plant is the fact there are more computer labs and Vocational workshops than they are science labs which appears to be in sync with the development thrust of SKN.  The recent movement by St Kitts and Nevis  up an impressive 20 positions in 2016  at the World Telecommunications/ICT Indicators Symposium held in Botswana made it the most dynamic country in terms of ICT use worldwide. The overall ranking for the Caribbean region also showed St Kitts and Nevis lead followed by Barbados and the Bahamas in selected indices.

The construction of the school though precipitated by an act of an environmental crisis has given rise to an opportunity for the further development of the human capital.  The school’s athletic and sports development has been addressed in the new school as a playing field and running track, sized to meet international standards, as well as other various hard-court sports such as Basketball will be constructed. A facility for Netball along with bleachers for the viewing of sports on the playing field and for general social interaction will be a feature of the new school.  This state-of-the-art technology education plant is the only one of its kind in the eastern Caribbean.  St Kitts and Nevis should stand and take a bow as they carry the students on a wonderful journey of a future filled with opportunities as the new Basseterre High School is coming!!!

The Editor
SKN Forward

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