PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Minister Wycliffe Smith and Deputy Minister Plenipotentiary Michael Somersall met on Tuesday, August 6 to discuss how the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth & Sport and the Cabinet of the Minister Plenipotentiary can work closer together to support all the Sint Maarten students currently studying in The Netherlands.
One critical point of discussion was the ‘free movers’. Free movers are students who travel to The Netherlands on their own without the assistance of study financing. One task of the Plenipotentiary Cabinet is to assist all students. The experience of the Cabinet has been that students or their parents only reach out to the cabinet in the case of an emergency. In an invited comment, Deputy Minister Somersall said, “It is heartbreaking to hear that one of our students is standing with their suitcases on the streets with nowhere to sleep. No child should have to go through such an experience so far away from home. If only they had gotten in contact with the Cabinet from the time they arrived, maybe we would have been able to give them the assistance they needed before things got out of control.”
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth & Sport and The Cabinet of The Minister Plenipotentiary are making a plea to the parents and students travelling to the Netherlands to get in contact with the Cabinet of the Minister Plenipotentiary so that they can know who you are and where you are staying. Students are being asked to exchange their contact information with the Cabinet office and stay in touch.
“Even though students leave to go the Netherlands on their own, without study financing, we encourage them to register with the Cabinet of the Minister Plenipotentiary so that they can be included in all the activities related to Sint Maarten. Please do not wait until hard times to get in touch with the Cabinet,” Minister Smith said.
The Cabinet of the Minister Plenipotentiary in collaboration with SXM Students Connect would like to hereby extend an invitation to all first-year students in The Netherlands, to come to the First-Year Students Get-together Event at the Cabinet office on the 20th of August 2019, from 11:00am to 6:00pm. This event is to create a strong support system and sense of community that will afford Sint Maarten students the peace of mind they need while studying thousands of miles away from home.
The Cabinet of the Minister Plenipotentiary of Sint Maarten is located at Prinsessegracht 7, 2514 AN Den Haag. They may be contacted via email to info@kgmsxm.nl or by telephone +31 70 215 6067. Log on to their website at www.kgmsxm.nl and their Facebook page to keep informed of the Cabinet’s activities.
