"We should be grateful as a community to offer children the education that they deserve"
The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams attended the re-opening of the ACE Foundation School on the LB Scott Road on Sunday afternoon at a ceremony also attended by the Minister of VROMI the Honorable Maurice Lake, the Minister of Health and Social Affairs the Honorable Cornelius de Weever and the Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Affairs the Honorable Patricia Lourens-Phillip.
The ACE re-opened through the efforts of the Buddhist Compassionate Organization Tzu-Chi St. Maarten Chapter and through the assistance of the Maho Sonesta Resort and various private and public entities contributing towards the school’s new location.
During her address to the crowd of parents, teachers, students and well-wishers the Prime Minister reminded the crowd of the importance of ensuring that all children receive fair education and the key role this plays in the development of St. Maarten as a Country. "With compulsory education haven been introduced in stages since 2009 there where many undocumented persons who were residing on St. Maarten whose children, through no fault of their own, were not able to attend school. As a Government and a people we collectively believe that children should never ever suffer because of the circumstances their parents face. We should be grateful as a community to offer children the education that they deserve and it is important that we all work together as Government, Private Sector and Civil Society to make St. Maarten a better place for all of us and a better place starts with an educated population. We need to ensure that in today’s world our children understand what it means to be a member of a multi-cultural society, we need to have children understand that in todays world it is peace which will see us through in the coming decades and so today it is my pleasure to see the ACE Foundation and the Tzu-Chi Foundation and their partners realize the completion of this school, where we may offer the education necessary to continue to develop our country. Therefore a special congratulations needs to go out to the ACE Foundation and the Tzu-Chi Foundation for making this school a possibility. Every so often we should look back and see from where we have come and where we should strive to move forward as a country, developing St. Maarten and its children into the country and citizens it deserves.