By Liz Rahaman
The Bronte Welsh Primary School won Friday the UNESCO’s responsible citizenship competition at the Ocean Terrance Inn.
The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, held the one-year competition for grade-six students in St. Kitts.
The students were required to create projects on responsible citizenship, which were unveiled to the public for judging at OTI.
Violet Petty Primary placed second with a project on environmental pollution.
Tyrell Williams Primary School placed third with a proj ect called ‘Marijuana Abuse.’
Deputy Prime Minister Sam Condor presented the prizes to the students.
The other participating schools were Dean Glasford, Beach Allen, Cayon Primary, Edgar T. Morris and Tucker Clarke Primary schools.
Absent from the closing ceremony were the Seventh Day Adventist Primary, the Saddlers Primary and Molineux Primary schools.
With their project, ‘Increasing Criminal Activity in St. Kitts/Nevis,’ the Bronte Welsh students exuded a measure of confidence that was unmatched by their peers.
The highlight of the project was a slide presentation with scenes from a field trip to Her Majesty’s Prison.
“Imagine being in a cell with 18 other prisoners? You can catch a disease and all kinds of things could happen to you,” the students said.
Police Commissioner Robert Jeffers told the students that criminal activities would always take place in a society.
“He told us that if we are a class of 16 students now, and if we were to stay away from getting involved in gang violence, drugs etc, when we reach high school, we would be trying to stop crime because the 16 of us would not be getting involved in doing crime and right there we would be contributing to the reduction in the crime rate.”
The students’ slide show also revealed that during the last three to five years, housebreaking and larceny were the most popular crimes in the Federation.
“In 2004, eight out of 10 break-ins were solved, compared to one out of 12 reported cases in 2005.”
Students of the Tyrell Williams Primary started their project with a sk it that depicted the serious effects caused by the use of marijuana.
“It fries the brain,” the students said.
Dean Glasford Primary also made an outstanding presentation, themed, ‘Our Dying Culture, Let us Preserve It.’
The Beach Allen Primary School did a project on the beautification of the Federation. Students said that they journeyed to Taylor’s Village to clean up the area.
“We also took the time to carefully observe the landscaping of our school compound and the environment around it. We later assembled to discuss what was absent and what strategies we could employ to enhance the existing Taylor’s Village and the environment around the school,” the students said. “We came up with numerous ideas of how we can improve the environmen t, but came to a consensus that we would concentrate on the beautification of our school and the community. We also discussed what was to be done and the best way of doing it.”
The project was executed with the planting of various decorative and flowering plants around the community.
The students of Tucker Clarke Primary concentrated on a group-peer project, where they embarked on mediating on disputes between their peers.
“Peer mediation is the process whereby students set out to assist their peers to solve problems in a formal setting,” a student said.
