BASSETERRE, St Kitts, April 23, CMC – Education Minister Nigel Carty has held talks in Taiwan hoping to get more local students study vocational and technical training in the Asian country.

A government statement said that Carty, who led a delegation to Taiwan for talks with his counterpart, Dr. Wei-Ling Chiang, discussed the possibility of corporation programmes particularly in the field of vocational and technical training.

“We have identified a gap in our educational system as it relates to vocational and technical training and would wish to explore the possibility of developing partnerships with your country to assist us in developing that sector through scholarships or teacher training or through any other method that would be mutually beneficial,” Carty said.

The statement said that Taipei has indicated its readiness “to assist in whatever manner deemed appropriate by the both sides, including awarding more scholarships to students from St. Kitts and Nevis.

Carty also met with principal Hsu of the National Taichung Industrial High School and toured the institution which has become one of the premier industrial high schools in Taiwan.

Prior to his departure from Taipei, Carty met with students from the twin island Federation studying in Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Carty has said that programmes aimed at combating violence in schools and creating a friendly environment will continue during the course of this year.

“The threat of continuing violence summons a potent response from the Ministry of Education in

the form our Violence Mitigation or Peace Promotion programme geared towards the creation of a more friendly school environment for students and teachers alike, and a curtailment of the trend of violence in our society, more generally,” he said, adding there has been an increase in the number of primary school guidance counsellors to assist schools in directly addressing the identifiable psycho-social problems of students.

“Our Peace Promotion Programme will be improved upon in the ensuing year. We will continue the implementation of our UNICEF-sponsored Violence Prevention project which involves training of teachers, assessment of schools, putting into effect specific policies to address anti-social behaviour, and an evaluation of the targeted outcomes,” said Carty.