Three Primary schools receive consumer education

ST. PAUL’S, SADDLERS AND DR WILLIAM CONNOR PRIMARY SCHOOLS were coursed in consumer education at its inaugural ‘Consumer Education for Kids’ Programme

the Consumer Affairs Department launched earlier this week as part of World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) observances.
The Consumer Affairs Department said consumer education helps families acquire the information needed to make informed decisions in the marketplace.

Senior Minister and Minister of International Trade, Industry, Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Dr. Denzil Douglas told students and teachers it is important for the former to be able to prioritise as consumers.
“We have come today to St. Paul’s to educate you to better prepare you for a better future… and ensure that you all participate in the lessons of ‘Consumer Education for Kids’ that we are bringing to the people of St. Kitts and Nevis,” Dr. Douglas said.

Stressing the urgency of learning about products, and or services they access, Minister Douglas noted that this is critical in advancing to make better decisions now and in the future.

“We want you to know…there are needs…and there are wants.[W]hen you are demanding things from your parents, they must be things that you need to keep you alive (and) advance you so that you are better able to learn and prepare you for the future,” Douglas reiterated.

Consumer Affairs Department Director, Paul Queeley, noted it was extremely important to introduce the consumer programme in primary schools as students are increasingly targets of advertising and other forms of aggressive and manipulative marketing techniques, and have to be educated about their consumer rights and responsibilities.
“We recognise that children at your age are being exposed to being the actual purchasers of items such as snacks, and video games, and you even have the ability to influence your parents to make certain purchasing decisions,” Queeley reminded while delivering remarks at St. Paul’s Primary School. He stressed that the new classroom initiative will provide the needed awareness for young purchasers to guarantee a more consumer-educated public.

“With this in mind, this new classroom initiative will aim to offer consumer awareness to students at an early age in hope of creating a younger and more informed consumer base,” Queeley declared.
Meanwhile, Principal of the St. Paul’s Primary School, Mrs. Joyce Rawlins-Buchanan praised the Consumer Affairs Department for such a timely programme.

“We are delighted to have you with us to launch the first-ever “Consumer Education for Kids” Programme in our school. We are thrilled and filled with anticipation with what this programme will be doing in the lives of our students and the community at large,” Rawlins-Buchanan said.

She continued, “This programme is extremely timely and relevant for our students as they will become empowered consumers.”
Similar sentiments were verbalised at the other two schools. The programme will also be rolled out in other schools across the island.
World Consumer Rights Day is celebrated on March 15 annually to help promote the basic rights of all consumers. It demands those rights be respected and protected and encourages protest against market abuses and social injustices, which undermine consumers.

This year, World Consumer Rights Day is observed under the global theme ‘Empowering Consumers Through Clean Energy Transitions’, Miniter Douglas said.