Parents graduate at Calliaqua

May 29th, 2008, was a milestone for the Calliaqua Anglican School’s PTA when it held its first Home Management Graduation ceremony at the Calliaqua Anglican Parish Hall.{{more}}

With the theme “ Equipped and Empowered”, the graduating class of 20 students proudly performed a ceremony worthy of commendation. Winfield Tannis, – PTA President, was the master of ceremonies.

The three-month programme was sponsored by the Adult and Continuing Education Unit in the Ministry of Education. It was facilitated by Anthony Anderson, who said the programme was formulated specifically for adults to gain both practical and theoretical skills. These skills, he pointed out, would bring economic as well as life long benefits to those who participated. The members of the community would also benefit.

Flavia Howard, Education Oficer/Modern Languages in the Ministry of Education, praised the graduates for their bold step and reminded them that they were the ones who could properly use their talents to invest in these kinds of programmes since learning is a life-long process.

Director of the Division of Adult and Continuing Education Hugh Wyllie was especially proud of the class. He said that the Calliaqua zone was a success. He also pointed out that similar programmes were soon to come on stream in other zones. Finally, he congratulated the school’s PTA for initiating the programme.

Yvette Bowens, Headteacher of the school, was duly proud because the programme began from the school’s PTA. She expressed her pleasure that this type of programme empowers parents and fosters closer relations among the school and the community. Anderson also had high praise for the students.

One of the topics dealt with was Conflict Resolution. Anderson said that the youths seemed to be turning to guns as a means of solving problems. He outlined that once persons were able to deal effectively with conflict, the problems that now plague the community would be minimised.

The feature speaker was Anesia Richards-Baptiste of the Ministry of Tourism. She challenged the graduates to always aim high and told them not to let anyone or anything prevent them from reaching as high as they can. The graduates then proudly received their certificates and plaques. Sanrda Glasgow was the valedictorian. Gibra Bailey then gave the vote of thanks, which brought the ceremony to a close.