Philipsburg:--- Minister of Education, Sports, Youth, and Cultural Affairs Silveria Jacobs and the delegation that went to the Netherlands to debate the report put together by UNICEF Netherlands on the situation of children and adolescents on St. Maarten shared information with the media on Wednesday.
Shermina Powel Richardson represented the Minister in the Netherlands because Minister Jacobs could not have left the island due to the political saga on St. Maarten. The delegation said that UNICEF Netherlands, a non-governmental foundation, did research on St. Maarten and other islands and they compiled the report without even verifying the information they received. Angela Dekker who also formed part of the non-governmental foundations on St. Maarten said that she has been defending the rights of the child since 2004 and St. Maarten has come a long way. Dekker said that the first year the Netherlands did not want the Antilles to submit their reports separately but because she contested it the Antilles managed to get that done in 2008. She further explained that a lot of the information UNICEF collected is incorrect information and they could have contacted the various departments to verify their information but that was not done. She said the researchers took the information they gathered, made a report, and presented it as factual. Another flaw in the report is that UNICEF only interviewed 15 children on St. Maarten and they made a report that portrayed a catastrophic situation in certain areas for the entire island.
Minister Jacobs said that one of the suggestions from UNICEF is that a school be built for children that need special education. Minister Jacobs explained that the government of St. Maarten already designated the school that is built in Belvedere for that. Minister Jacobs said that some schools are offering breakfast to students that go to school hungry but one of the hiccups the schools have is that some parents feel that their rights are being infringed upon. "You have parents who feel that children have rights but parents/adults do not have any rights because children are allowed to take the problems they face at home on the streets." The Minister said another suggestion that was made by UNICEF is for St. Maarten to provide early childhood education (day-care) for children on the island. They also feel that St. Maarten should conduct its own research and compile a report of its own.
The delegation and the Minister made clear that some parts of the report are positive and showed that St. Maarten is in a far better position than the other islands. They said that since the implementation of compulsory education on St. Maarten there are far less students in privatized schools. "We are urging parents to come forward and register their children in the regular schools because their immigration status has nothing to do with the registration of students to attend school and obtain an education."
