Recently, DEI officially ended its Pilot Drop Out Prevention Program and held a closing ceremony at the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort to commemorate a successful ending to a program that is needed on the island.
The Drop Out Prevention program is a pilot prevention and intervention afterschool program aimed at students at risk of dropping out/being expelled from school. The program was completely funded by Usona and was executed during the period of April 2014 to June 2014. The program was also used as a tool to gather data on drop-out prevention/intervention techniques and will offer recommendations to relevant stakeholders such as secondary schools, Government of St. Maarten and NGO’s who offer or wish to offer this type of program.
The program started out with twenty students from the 2nd and 3rd form of St. Maarten Academy P.S.V.E who were at risk of failing the year and were having difficulties in school. These twenty students were recommended by the Academy PSVE student care team however the ultimate decision of participation were taken by the parents and the student as the program was on a voluntary basis. The program was guided by a multi-disciplinary team of workers which consisted of a project manager, program coordinator, psychologist and counselor. The program consisted of tutoring, homework guidance, recreational therapy sessions, social skills and character development classes, motivational sessions and counseling/career guidance sessions. The students were also provided daily lunch and transportation home. A behavior modification system was used by the program staff in order to promote positive behavior amongst the students.
Nineteen students were awarded certificates for their participation in the program and these were presented at the closing ceremony at Sonesta Maho Beach Resort. It was indeed a joyous affair as all the students in attendance were ecstatic about passing or as they call it “going over” to the next form. The program staff urged students in attendance to continue the hard work and continue using the techniques learnt in the program to assist them with difficulties they may face in the next school year. As a parting gift, each student was presented with an Office World gift voucher to purchase school supplies for the upcoming school year. The evaluation report of the program will be handed over to the Foundation Academic and Vocational Education (FAVE) and the School Manager of St. Maarten Academy P.S.V.E.
For further information about the Pilot Dropout Prevention Program, please feel free to contact us at 542-1064 or email the project manager at j.presentacion@gmail.com .