New Day Care Centre in Cul de Sac Officially Opened

Contact: Dana Augustin

Friday, November 24, 2000 – The Government of Saint Lucia has come to the aid of residents of the Cul de Sac community, who have been calling for the construction of a day care centre there. A new facility, work on which commenced in March this year was officially opened on Thursday.

The Government of Saint Lucia and the European Union’s human resource development funds, STABEX, jointly funded the Cul de Sac Day Care Centre at a cost of nearly $300,000.00. The centre, with a staff of four and a capacity to house forty-three children, became fully operational one day after the official opening.

At the opening ceremony, Minister for Community Development Honourable Damian Greaves spoke of government’s commitment to improve early childhood development. This, he hopes, will be achieved through the ministry’s Day Care programme that seeks, among other things, to provide training for parents and teachers in areas such as cooking, sewing and handicraft. Mr. Greaves is of the view that Health and Family Life Education for parents and teachers in particular, is indispensable for the overall well being of the children and the society. Providing that education for the communities is being done in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, which is also responsible for policy making on Early Childhood Education.

Mr. Greaves addressed an issue of great concern to many people, that of the children’s safety. Previously the children were cared for at the community centre, which is a venue for hosting a number of social events. However, minister Greaves made it clear that the Government of Saint Lucia will ensure that the children are cared for in a clean and safe environment stressing that the centre "must be used for the children only and not for recreational purposes."

Meanwhile Honourable Mennisa Rambally who is the Parliamentary Representative for the Castries South East constituency, of which Cul de Sac is a part of, expressed much excitement and gratification for the new day care centre. She assured the residents saying, ‘This is the beginning of a lot more things to come.’ Ms. Rambally noted that the new Cul de Sac Day Care Centre is the first to be constructed in that constituency, and the second of two new day care centres constructed by government in the last three years. She urged the residents to take due care of the facility. "I want you to treat it almost like your home, to take care of it and to ensure that the residents of this community respect the facility."

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