Last Updated on September 21, 2022, 8:21 AM AST by Anthony Morris
Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis, Dr Terrance Drew, took an opportunity to praise the St. Kitts Nevis Anguilla Trading and Development Company (TDC) Limited’s Warren Tyson Memorial Scholarship Programme at the Prime Minister’s Lecture Series that was hosted on Wednesday, September 4, 2022.
According to Prime Minister, Dr Drew, TDC’s Scholarship Programme, launched in 1981, has continuously offered equal opportunities to children from low-income families who are now making significant strides in nation-building.
The Prime Minster made this observation when he met with his scholarship collegue and “elder brother”, World renowned photographer Professor Valdon Tau Battice.
Mr Battice, now a Professor at Guttman College of the City University of New York, returned to St Kitts as the featured speaker at the Prime Minister’s Independence Lecture Series. The event was held at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort’s Ballroom.
As young school boys, the Prime Minister and Mr Battice had the chance to benefit from the programme. According to Dr Drew, Prime Minister Drew. He started in 1989. When he went there, he met Tau, the speaker for (PM’s Independence Lecture Series) event, and that scholarship was significant then.
According to Prime Minister Dr Terrance Drew, The Warren Tyson Memorial Scholarship Programme allowed them to have school books, which was difficult for low-income families to buy. It allowed them to have school uniforms which were also difficult for low-income families to afford.
“Tau had the opportunity to go to Convent School, back then, which was quite beyond the means of a poor family,” said Dr Drew, the third medical practitioner to hold the position of Prime Minister.
“That scholarship has benefitted many of us here in St Kitts and Nevis, of which Tau and I are examples. There are many more examples, many of whom have become professionals and leaders in their rights, and are making a significant impact locally, regionally and internationally.”
Apart from the financial support, which the scholarship provided them, it also benefitted them tremendously in many other ways. It exposed them to soft skills training where they would be attached to the TDC offices and learnt how to answer telephones, deal with people professionally, deal with customer service, and operate in an office.
They were also exposed to the language of business and communication, among others.
The Prime Minister asserted, “So many of those things that Tau and I learnt that we may not have been able to learn in our own homes, we were able to learn in the TDC environment, and those teachings have been with us and have carried us tremendously in our personal lives,”
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
