Charles optmisic about new early childhood centres

THA Chief Secretary and Secretary of Education, Innovation and Energy, Kelvin Charles is optimistic that at least two of the five Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Centres earmarked for Tobago will be built within this calendar year.

Charles, addressing reporters during Wednesday’s post Executive Council media briefing at the conference room of the THA Division of Tourism, Culture and Transportation, said he has been talking for a short while about the fact that the Administration would be constructing ECCE centres.

“…but it was with IADB (Inter American Development Bank) funding and the THA is a sub-sovereign entity, and the practice has not been for an entity like the THA to be an executing agency for the IADB. However, in June of this year, officials of the THA did meet with officials of the Ministry of Education,” he said.

The Chief Secretary noted that during this meeting a number of issues were highlighted, including the matter regarding the governance of the loan and the varying roles of Trinidad versus Tobago, the impact of any arrangement on funds, as well as the legal implications relating to the THA management of all loan funding coming from an institution like the IADB to be spent in Tobago.

“After those discussions, a new project profile was sent by the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Planning to be submitted to the Cabinet, where all the money that should be used for Tobago should be spent in Tobago. More importantly, that the governance arrangement for the arrangement should be totally in the hands of the THA. What this means is for the first time the THA would become the executing agency for an IADB project in Trinidad and Tobago that relates to Tobago,” he said.

Charles added, “(I) eagerly look forward before the end of the calendar year to turning the sod for at least two of these ECCE projects in Tobago. We do hope that we can fast-track the necessary arrangements because it is IADB funding and there are certain pre-requisites, it’s not your own money so you have to satisfy them that you are ready to draw down, but I am optimistic that before the end of the calendar year, we should at least begin construction of those schools.”