Teachers knock $10k horse grant amidst education woes
According to a release, an assistant grant was made available earlier this month by the Ministry of Education in the amount of $10,000 following an application by the Association to assist with the purchase of horses. The measure is expected to increase participation in the sport locally.
Arguably, the biggest concern by some, was the timeliness of the grant and its donation to the Association amidst several concerns within schools in the Territory coupled with the needs of teachers locally.
One teacher expressed concern about the priorities in the Territory following the donation, “Education as a whole is being neglected,” she said, “there are a lot of things needed to be done in education.”
The educator felt that money could be used instead to cover other areas that were of priority and were closer to the future of young persons in the Territory.
Another educator felt that the funds given to the Association affected teachers in a lot of ways. “That ten thousand dollars could be used for a lot of things, we have so many schools now having structural problems, so many schools having mould infections and a lot of different other things,” she said.
The teacher suggested that the money could be put back into education instead of being given to the Horse Owners Association. She stated that items are needed in the classroom to aid teachers in executing their duties.
Horse owner, Mr Rodney Simmons, felt the idea of the grant given to the Horse Owners Association was a good one and was also a good gesture, but also added that it didn’t make much sense.
“Ten thousand dollars can only buy, maybe two decent horses,” Simmons said, “I don’t think it makes much sense, when you buy the horses you have to check them before they come to Tortola, you have to pay shipping… to me it’s just a waste of time.”
Simmons also felt that though the stables at Ellis Thomas Downs were in need of repair, these repairs were not so urgent that they could not wait. He added, “I would have taken ten thousand dollars and buy one good horse…”
Meanwhile, co-owner of L&B Stables, Violet ‘Letty’ Hodge, felt the proposal was a good idea. “I think it was good, I mean it is a start… we haven’t had anything from the government, per se, money wise for anything.”
Hodge reasoned that the initiative would bring new faces to horseracing in the Territory. “There are different people out there that have pockets for different horses and the class they want to get” she stated. She also felt that there were currently not enough horses in the Territory to hold a race. “To me, we’ll be able to fix little by little, going from the most important first,” Hodge stated.
President of the Horse Owners Association, Karen Smith-Aaron stated that the Association applied for a grant before receiving the funds. She explained that the grant was in place to help potential horse owners of the Territory. “Persons will be using the funds to continually put into horse racing,” she stated.
Offering a background to the situation, Smith-Aaron said, “Basically we requested a grant because (with) the sport, we’ve lost a lot of horse owners and we don’t have enough horses to put on races and everybody is struggling… it’s hard for persons to say that ‘I’m going to take [funds] out of my pocket and go and purchase a horse out front, because at the end of the day it’s not just getting a horse, you have to be able to afford to feed it.”
Potential horse owners, Smith-Aaron noted, would purchase a horse under a payment agreement and once the funds were repaid to the association, this would in turn lead to purchases of additional horses through other horse owners.
The President disclosed that the grant may only be able to purchase two horses at this time. “We had to cancel the April races because we weren’t getting any horses,” she revealed, “we didn’t have enough horses to put on a race. Even with this, we still wouldn’t have enough, but we will start to build it slowly and hopefully we get good horses and we don’t lose at the same time we’re trying to build.”
She was insistent that the funds would be put towards building the sport and would not be misused. “In building the sport, that means helping potential horse owners to obtain enough horses to put into it,” the President added.
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46 Responses to “Teachers knock $10k horse grant amidst education woes”
The problem is M..... must do things with a pure hart not just for political mileage…look at that Archie with his hand on hip can’t wait to vote him out!!!
The dictator thinks that he can do what he wants when he wants & try to say what he thinks will justify his continuous questionable behaviors in a manner that will keep him popular politically but he will learn that leading a country different to the restaurant business. In the restaurant business you can order what you want but when leading a country you better do what the people need to be done & not what you want.
As for the BVI anything goes that is why they can spend our monies like a drunken sailor!
If money goes to the schools, churches, festival, music feast, horse racing, ect. we have a problem. Money must be spent . People need a little recreation. We spend tousands of dollars going a broad to have fun but when the goverment spend a little money on any thing in the BVI we make noise about money, money. We need to give thanks that we have money to spend and stop complaining. We have so many Trust companies in the BVI can't they help us with the remodling of some of our schools ect. everything don't have to be the goverment they are reaping the sweet of the BVI let them do some work. (Just my 2 cents)
myron stop it...stop bloging on vino all day and night!
If his budget only has $2 in it .. $1 goes to education $1 goes to sports .. every cause has a purpose and a need
Additionally, please note that this doesn't make any one thing more important than the other in the context of things ...
Imagine if we had NO sports in our community ... BVI would be even more boring!
I would love to hear about the organizations - schools included that get up and do something for themselves and not wait for government to do everything. And the Horse Race Association happens to be one of those type of organizations that aren't solely dependent on government to operate. And the sport of Horse Racing actually holds great potential for aiding economic growth in the territory ...
Why doesn't the Tourist Board jump on this thing and market it as a means to attract visitors