Author: John Robert Lee
“Coming home to ourselves – our cultural identity.”
FRC’s POST COMMON ENTRANCE PROGRAMME 2010 starts on Monday June 28th.
The Bank of St. Lucia joins the National Community Foundation to partner with the Folk Research Centre to provide Common Entrance Examination students with an educational experience of their St. Lucian cultural heritage. This has become an annual event organized by the FRC and has proved popular with students and teachers. The Programme started in 2006.
This year the Bank of St. Lucia has also come on board to support and encourage this cultural education programme for students. This fits well their interest in supporting the growth and development of young St.Lucians wherever they can.
Both the NCF and BOSL will be represented at an opening ceremony for the programme which will be held at the FRC on Monday June 28th at 10 am. The Ministry of Education is also expected to be represented.
This year the Post Common Entrance programmes take place from Monday June 28th to July 9th, at the FRC headquarters on Mount Pleasant. The teaching sessions are arranged from 10 am – 11.30 am and from 12.30 – 2.00 pm daily.
Among the objectives of the annual programme are the increase of knowledge and awareness of aspects of St. Lucian culture among students and teachers. The FRC, NCF and BOSL would like to ensure that these young students enter their secondary schools with a good foundation in cultural education. The institutions also hope that this interaction with the culture in an educational setting will help to instill in the participants a lifelong interest in, and appreciation of, their rich cultural inheritance.
The programmes are conducted in a lively, interactive manner. This year the programme will focus on “Coming home to ourselves: our cultural identity.” Facilitators will focus on specific and distinctive aspects of St. Lucian culture, eg language, cultural history, music, dance and fashion. Among well known facilitators will be music teachers Frank Norville and Petronilla Deterville; dance leader Barry George and leaders of the Danseurs Traditionelles; writers Kendel Hippolyte and Michael Aubertin; kwéyòl language experts Marilyn Hyacinth and Marcian JnPierre; drummer Niger Nestor.
The new addition to this year’s programme is Kwéyòl fashion which will be facilitated by Ms Marilyn Gaston of Mon Repos.
Several well-known cultural personalities will be present to meet with students and to perform for them. Among those confirmed already are Boo Hinkson, Shirley Ann Cyril, Sally Elwin, and Shayne Ross while a number of calypsonians are also expected to join the students, including Lady Leen and Invader.
Approximately 900 Primary School students are expected to benefit from this educational experience. The Ministry of Education has given its full support again to this initiative by the FRC and NCF. This programme is usually scheduled for the period between the sitting of the Common Entrance examination and the close of school. While the Ministry of Education has undertaken to inform schools of the programme, teachers are encouraged to call the FRC at 4522279 to make bookings for their classes.
