On Friday, February 20^th, 1960, her Royal Highness Princess Margaret at Massade, Gros Islet, opened the Boys Industrial School. The school was built from Colonial Funds at a cost of $64,340. It housed 17 male juveniles and was staffed by three persons.

The school was the brainchild of Mr. Stanislaus James, who was the first trained Social Worker and first Probation Officer in St. Lucia. Mr. James, through his perseverance and determination, brought about the establishment of this institution.

In 1974 and Advisor to the Government was appointed to look into the operations of the school and made recommendations for improvements

Rename the institution to the "St. Lucia Boys Training Centre"

Cater to children who are in need of "Care and Protection"

Increase staffing from 3 to 14 to cater for 30 boys, and 16 staff for a complement of 50 boys.

All wards at the Centre are committed to the Centre by and order of the Family Court. There are two categories of wards housed at the center:

Children in conflict with the law: These are young men who have committed crimes.

Care and Protection: These are wards who have not committed any crimes but who would have been truant from school, are disruptive in the home or school environment, or children who do not have the parents/guardians with the ability to meet their needs.

Wards at the Centre range in age from 10 to 18. However, young men are not committed to the Centre if they have passed their 16^th birthday.

The over-riding objective is to create an environment that provides every ward with an opportunity to grow, learn and develop the skills necessary for spiritual, social and economic development. It is our mission to ensure that every ward that leaves the Centre can perform as a productive member of society.

The activities used to fulfill our aims and objectives are vocational training, remedial education and counseling.

Agriculture: There is a full-time agriculture instructor on staff. The center currently has approximately one acre of land available for agricultural purposes. Unfortunately the agricultural department has not been successful primarily because of the non-existence of the lower perimeter fence on the property makes it possible from the town of Gros Islet to get on to the property and eat crops. The problem of praedial larceny also exists, as a direct consequence of the lack of proper fencing. In addition there is a continuous water problem that presents and irrigation problem.

The recent donation of a water tank from Cable & Wireless and a US$1000 from a church in Virginia, USA will be used to put in a back-up water system in the next two months.

Auto Mechanics and Welding: The auto mechanic and welding programmes are progressing in an acceptable manner. Wards have been able to assemble engines, and have now been challenged with the task of working on a road-worthy vehicle. They have also produced coal pots made of car rims, and burglar bars.

Building Trades: The center was without a building trades instructor for approximately two years. This position was filled in October 2002. Unfortunately, the equipment used for the programme was left unattended over the two-year period and are now not operational. The instructor has several years of experience and is an asset to the center. New equipment is being sourced at a cost of approximately EC$65,000.

Most wards that are placed at the Centre are functionally illiterate. A new remedial teacher joined the staff in April 2002, and has paid specific attention to assessing the abilities of each individual ward, and has divided the wards into three academic categories. We have seen significant improvements in literacy since June 2002. The remedial teacher was also able to identify wards capable of re-entering the mainstream school system. We have successfully re-introduced 4 wards into secondary and primary schools.

Psychosocial counseling is used to address behavioural difficulties of the wards. Each ward, at the time he is admitted to the center, is assigned a counselor. The counselor does a psychosocial assessment and develops a treatment plan specific to the needs of the wards. Wards are provided with one individual and one group session every week. Treatment plans are reviewed every three months.

The counselors are required to conduct at least a quarterly visit to the home of each ward. Thus ensuring that the family bond is maintained, and that the family gets and opportunity to understand how the center functions and the activities in which the wards participate.

These educational tours are used primarily to ensure that wards have an opportunity to learn about the social and economic institutions operating in St. Lucia.

Last year, the wards visited the St. Lucia Coconut Growers Association in Soufriere to observe the process of the manufacturing of oil and margarine. This year there are planned tours to Ferrand’s Dairy, Solar Dynamics and the Voice Newspaper.

Every institution is faced with the issue of limited resources, and the assistance of the larger community is a significant source of support.

Cyril and Sons garage provides the center with old rims for the welding programme and wrecked vehicles to be used as training tools.

Mr. Martin Elliot, of the Caribbean Computer & Literacy Institute has provided the center with scholarships in the area of computer repairs. Every six weeks two wards will attend the programme. This is now a permanent part of the programme.

Religious Organisations from Gros Islet and the wider St. Lucian society have developed regular programmes here at the Centre to provide religious, spiritual and moral guidance.

The St. Lucia Cadet Academy is interested in developing a Cadet Corp here at the Centre

Sports: An unstructured sports programme exists here at the Centre. A physical education instructor or cricket/football coach on staff would be an asset to our programme.

Our Structure

The center currently operates on the mainstream school timetable (since June 2002), and every ward is expected to attend all vocational training and remedial education. At the regular breaks in the school year, wards are allowed to go home to spend time (home leave) with their families. Home leave is a privilege earned for good behaviour.

As each ward’s abilities are identified, he will be given extra support with those specific abilities, and we are now looking to the wider community to develop apprenticeship programmes in the areas of auto mechanics, welding and agriculture. We will add building trades to the list as soon as we can develop a sound programme here at the Centre.