Food and Nutrition returns to GHS after 25 year hiatus

By Jada Chambers

After 25 years, Food and Nutrition has returned to the St Vincent Girls’ High School, with the launch of an Agricultural Science Programme, and commissioning of a brand new lab.

Between 1939 and 1944 when Rene Baptiste’s mother attended the St Vincent Girls’ High School, students learned and engaged in the craft of Cookery.
The subject remained in the school into the ‘60s when Baptiste was a student, but with time, Cookery “gradually disappeared” from the school’s curriculum.

Now, after a 25 year hiatus, Food and Nutrition(Cookery), with a new Home Economics Laboratory, is being reintroduced into the school under the orchestration of Headmistress, Latoya DeRoche-John.

“When I became Minister of Tourism, I went to visit Palm Island Resorts, and I got the shock of my life because the chef, his salary was more than my salary as Minister of Tourism,” Baptiste said, while speaking at the opening of the Home Economics Lab on March 18, 2025 at the school.

She told the students that they are living in a different time now where it’s not going to be that easy to migrate to “greener pastures where the streets are paved in gold”, therefore, they must value their education and look at what they can do in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“How many people would sit in an office without an AC? You’re going to complain, oh my god, it’s so hot, but you don’t have any technicians to fix the AC. Lots of children want a car as soon as they’re 17 to drive, but who’s going to fix the car and the computer board now in the car…” she further queried, while urging them that in this business, they must be able, literate, and competent.

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