Intense preparations have begun for this year’s hurricane season. In fact preparations on the part of both local and international agencies have been ongoing as this hurricane season is expected to be an active one with predictions of up to fourteen tropical storms. Six to eight of these are expected to become hurricanes, of which two to four may be classified as major hurricanes. Red Cross from throughout the Caribbean and Latin America are meeting here over the next three days to discuss plans for the region. Candy Nicholas has that story.

Sixteen Primary Schools from around the island participated in the first ever National Spelling Bee. The Spelling Competition was organized by the Ministry of Education and Le Pavillpart of reading month.  You may have seen excerpts from the US Spelling Bees where many nervous youngsters’ lose their composure and then their legs. But the St. Lucian version of the Spelling Bee was a bit different, in fact a lot different.  The confident little ones strode up the stage, fixed the mic and waited for the word to be announced before attempting to provide the correct spelling.

This was the first Spelling Bee ever – an idea of Governor General – Dame Pearlette Louisy, as part of Reading Month. Sixteen children representing the eight school districts on the island, each faced their word challenges with the goal of being the last standing when all the competition had succumbed to words they could not spell.

Curriculum Officer in the Ministry of Education, Angela Mariatte says the competition followed the US model. The sixteen finalists were the top spellers in their respective districts, after disposing of their opponents in the preliminary rounds of competition.

After seven rounds of competition, it was Fedania Carmon of the Dame Pearlette Primary School who was left standing as the Spelling Bee Champion.  No doubt, the Dame, was proud of the performance of the school that bares her name. In second place was Vernally Andrew of the Morne du Don Primary School and in third place, Isis Allain of Les Etangs Primary School.

Following on the heels of the announcement by Tourism Minister Phillip Pierre that Carnival Cruise Lines will begin to call on our port once again, the St Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority had more good news.

The upcoming Cruise Season looks extremely promising. That’s according to Donna Regis of the St Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority.  The authority is expecting a 48% increase in cruise ship calls to the island over last year’s figure. Regis says tourism agencies on the island have been working to maintain the island’s visibility among the major cruise liners.

Not only will there be increase calls at local ports, St. Lucians are expected to benefit from new jobs in the industry.  It has been announced that Norwegian Cruise Lines is providing employment opportunities for up to 200 St Lucians. Fleet Personnel Recruiter Christian Weindorf will be on island next week to interview and screen applicants for the available positions. The recruitment drive will also include Barbados and Antigua, but St Lucia is expected to get the largest share of the employment.

The Florida Caribbean Cruise Association – FCCA – will provide free training to 400 individuals who provide services to cruise passengers. That training is scheduled for July 27. The training will be facilitated by FCCA Vice President, Adam Cesseano.  It aims to highlight a customer service mentality among participants.

During the three day workshop, participants will be trained in three main areas – professionalism, marketing and safety.

St Lucians are once again being given the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of the nine million people who have visited the traveling book shop - the Logos II. The ship is calling on our port for the fifth time, fulfilling their philosophy of providing “good books for all.” The Christian based organization is a non-profit organization and has 280 ports of call.

The Logos II experience has been described as more than just a book-purchasing event.  It is more of a cultural exchange. After all, the crew on the giant floating bookstore comprises volunteers from over 46 countries. They are mostly young people who are giving two years of their lives to be onboard the vessel, learning to live and work together, and serving the communities in the ports they visit.  The ship’s Captain, P J Thomas says today’s opening marked the start of intense sharing between the crew and locals.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education – Esther Braithwaite says the LOGOS visit provides local students with an opportunity to appreciate things outside of their culture. All Logos II crew and staff are volunteers. No one – including the captain – is paid and each one on board has to raise funds to cover his or her expenses while onboard the ship.

A Caribbean meeting to discuss high rates of non-completion at the Secondary School level came to an end today. The two-day Caribbean Forum on Life-Long Learning was hosted by the World Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank, the Caribbean Association of National Training Agencies the UK Department for International Development and the OECS.

Studies show that most Caribbean and Latin American countries have reached a reasonable level of basic education and are now experiencing further expansion at secondary and tertiary levels.

However, young adults lack the necessary qualification for formal jobs because of a low education quality and relatively high rates of non-completion at the secondary school level.

The conclusions of these studies are part of the reason for the Caribbean Form on Live-Long Learning.  The Forum was organized by a number of agencies, including the OECS and the Caribbean Development Bank and the World Bank.

The Forum drew from Caribbean policy-makers, training agencies, educators, the private sector and education institutions among others. Education Ministers from OECS countries met with the World Bank to look at ways of working with young people, especially those who dropped out of the system.

Deputy Programme Manager for Human Resource Development at CARICOM – Dr. Morella Joseph says governments need to review the education system for relevance in the changing global environment.

That view is shared by the Antiguan Education Minister.  Bertrand Joseph says skills are no alternative to academics.  He said what is needed is building capacity. Dr. Joseph says developing life-long skills is critical since employers are looking for these skills in people who apply to join their organizations. The participants are hoping that life-long education policies can help develop a stronger workforce in the region.