Speeches

SERVOL Check Handover

Address by Dr. Roy L. Austin
U.S. Ambassador to T&T
SERVOL Check Handover
November 18, 2003

Senator the Honorable Hazel Manning, Minister of Education.
Father Pantin… Sister Montrichard… SERVOL members… Members of the Media… Honored Guests.

Good morning!!

I am pleased to be finally able to present SERVOL with a check for $24.000 U.S. to help refurbish some of its early childhood education facilities. Why do we provide support for early childhood education? The most obvious answer is that we might help people to attain their educational potential; but we also expect that a properly planned and executed early education program will improve its student’s later employability and hinder their development of criminal tendencies.

Importantly, for a program of early childhood education to be optimally effective, it may need to include a component that makes parents better socializers of children and better at developing and maintaining healthy relationships with teachers. That is, we increase the likelihood of obtaining socially desirable behavior when the two primary institutions of family and school work in unison.

And why are we investing money in SERVOL? Well, many years before I became an ambassador, I chanced upon a book about this organization in the Penn State University library. I became curious about the organization; and when I finally visited this location, spoke with its administrators and read its literature, I became convinced that its early childhood education program has the right scientific underpinning to improve educational outcomes, occupational prospects and the likelihood of law-abiding behavior. Besides, I was impressed by Sister Montrichard’s expressed willingness to have her programs evaluated by competent outsiders, especially since she provided me with one such evaluation.

Sister Montrichard, please accept this check; and you have my best wishes for the greatest success in your work with all young people.