Hmm. Perhaps you should confer with Bahamas Petroleum Company because, while their tests confirmed the presence of hydrocarbons in The Bahamas, the company concluded in 2021 that they are not commercially viable. This is in line with the findings of other exploratory ventures beginning in the 1940s.

See https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/co…
and https://www.offshore-energy.biz/bpc-fin…

More fake news designed to boost Russia's petroleum and natural gas sales??

1pnewman. Don't waste your time. With a name like ColumbusPillow, probably believes Columbus discovered The Bahamas despite Columbus himself documenting his encounter with people already living in these islands.

Sounds wonderful.

So... Where is this new curriculum? Is it available online for public consumption, especially for parents and older students so we can see, for example:
(1) curriculum aims, goals, and objectives,
(2) Content (subject matter),
(3) how learning will be delivered -- the learning experiences of students (and teachers),
(4) how the effectiveness of the new curriculum will be evaluated so it does indeed usher in at "a new generation of brilliance in this nation," and
(5) how it's relevant to student needs and how well it will prepare our youth, for example, to help build the "Four Pillars for the Future" as outlined in Vision 2040: State of the Nation Report?

Show and tell what the MOE gat, so we are confident that we are not experiencing another smoke and mirrors effort to obscure the very real challenges being faced by our nation's system of public education.

Deny science. Deny consequences. Deny responsibility. Exploit logical fallacies and rely on fake experts. What do you end up with? Illogical conspiracy theories and ostrich-like behavior.

FYI: The quantities of petroleum that might exist in Bahamian territorial waters are miniscule compared to other KNOWN reserves, including those recently being exploited off Guyana. It's comparable to The Bahamas' population: ~0.005% of the global total.

While the following quote was in reference to World War 2, Churchill's words apply to the threat posed by climate change to humankind and the planet's ecological health generally:

"Owing to past neglect, in the face of the plainest warnings, we have now entered upon a period of danger … The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences … We cannot avoid this period; we are in it now." Winston Churchill, Churchill Speaks: 1897-1963.

The Bahamas needs a homegrown Churchill (in terms of his ability to provide guidance and inspiration and rally support), our own Mia Mottley. No one of the equivalent stature appears to exist in either the PLP's or the FNM's leadership ranks.

We also need a "climate czar" to help us clearly understand the risks confronting our country, especially as they apply to today's children and future generations, and to help guide us through effective mitigation and adaptation strategies. Not a political appointee. Not a bureaucrat. A homegrown expert who understands both the challenges posed by climate change and our people. A person who values both scientific evidence and the experiences of "ordinary" citizens in terms of understanding how the country is already being impacted by rising and warming seas, changing weather patterns, changing bird migration, etc... Dr. Adelle Thomas???

An ongoing challenge for our country is the sale of "prime" real estate to non-Bahamians -- to the highest bidder -- especially the finite amount of waterfront (particularly beachfront). Increasingly, access to the sea for those who do own boats is being cut off, even in areas once assumed to be public access because they were used for generations by Bahamians. I am fortunate in that I do not have a problem accessing the water, and probably never will. However, one day, our descendants will wonder why more was not done by their foreparents to preserve easy access access to "the sea" for ALL Bahamians. They will wonder why -- as with many amenities, I imagine -- only the privileged/monied enjoy rights that, for many generations, were considered natural or God-given.

The fortunate communities are those built on commonage land. However, increasingly waterfront is being privatized as that land is divided into individual parcels -- a different kind of privilege.

While many will argue that the world is not fair, it is within the power of current generations and decision-makers to ensure that access to The Bahamas' most treasured resources are preserved. This should apply to other threatened resources, such as conch, scalefish, and crawfish. Resources that, because of their price and the difficulty of accessing them, are well beyond the means of many citizens. Resources that should not be exported, especially because a ready market exists for them, in both Bahamians and visitors.

We must seriously consider implementing a public trust doctrine, whereby the government owns and maintains resources such as beaches and preserves them for public use in perpetuity for the benefit of everyone. Our legal and parliamentary system is based on British law, so this should not be a principle alien to our lawmakers, especially the lawyers among them. Our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc will thank us for our foresight, rather than curse us for the more narrow-minded pursuit of profit.

The fact that schools are closed and distance learning is largely ineffective reflect the reality that the Bahamian system of public education is broken. For decades, our young people have not been adequately prepared to become productive, constructive, engaged members of society. The pandemic disrupted a largely antiquated system. Instead of figuring out how to go back to more of the same, policy makers have a perfect opportunity to reshape the system - to ensure that all children are functionally literate and to be innovative so young people are indeed prepared to be 21st Century citizens both as Bahamians and members of the global community.

For details, work with local educators who have vision, learn from places like Finland, examine effective public schools in the United States, see what's working well at private institutions such as Albany and the Island School on Eleuthera. To break the longstanding crisis in education, disruptive innovation is essential.

Above all, give children hope, allow them to feel successful, make them feel people in power, and adults generally, care for them.

Unfortunately, our country and, especially, those elected to lead us are caught in a unconstructive -- even destructive -- cycle of more of the same and, in this case, the most vulnerable among us are suffering because of it: our children. Each administration points fingers at the former for ongoing societal dislocations and refuses to accept its role in the problem. Their playbooks contain similar similar strategies with only the glossy cover being replaced in an attempt to hoodwink people into believing something new is being offered. For education, as with other policies, there's arrogance, ineptitude, inertia, an absence of innovation, a moribund bureaucracy that muzzles people who have constructive ideas for creating more relevant and effective learning environments, and, for too many in positions of power, a lack of concern for the welfare of our young people.

In the end, how long can a country whose prosperity is built on unsustainable foundations survive? What happens when those foundations are so weak that, come the next global recession, society as we know it unravels?

OMG above rightly points out some of the inadequacies in education. While it feels like a cliché, the children are the future of the country. Given the historically dismal state of education -- now compounded by the pandemic -- what is their future? What is the future of our country?

A related note: Would the Bahamian system of education be of much higher quality if politicians, the well-heeled, and parents who sacrifice material possessions to pay private school fees had to send their children to public schools? What would happen if teachers were paid more and better respected for the invaluable role they played in shaping our nation's future? What would happen if parents cared enough and "went on strike," refusing to send their children to schools that weren't properly equipped learning environments -- communities where every child was provided with the opportunity to thrive and be successful? What would happen if all of us cared enough, even those of us who have no "skin in the game" (e.g., no school-aged or no kids, the upper middle class)?

While this is one more tragic incident in the ongoing history of brutal violence in Nassau, please get your headline terminology right -- especially as, if one only looks at the headline, they assume that another form of violence has hit Nassau's streets.

According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of road rage: "a motorist's uncontrolled anger that is usually provoked by another motorist's irritating act and is expressed in aggressive or violent behavior."

Yes, because of our small population, The Bahamas is not a major overall contributor to global warming. However, our leaders must pause before blaming other countries and consider our per person carbon footprint. Where available, data places The Bahamas in the top 25% of global carbon dioxide emitters per person. The World Bank has no data between 1980 and 2020, except for 2009, when CO2 emissions were 17 metric tons per person. Statista has 7.6 metric tons per person for 2017. For 2016, WorldOMeters has, 11.7 tons per capita. Wikipedia whose data is from Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), shows 7.7 tons per person in 2018.

Who knows what the true figures are but, if we use 7.7 tons as a reasonable figure, we are responsible for a lot of CO2 per person. The number is by no means comparable to that of oil producing countries and nations such as the USA, Canada, and South Korea, but it’s almost the same as China’s and far more than India’s. We are a carbon-based economy — our electricity production, our transportation, our tourism-based economy, and our consumption patterns.

So, Mr. Prime Minister. What is the nation’s plan to reduce CO2 emissions? While each of us can reduce our carbon footprint, only policies can bring about meaningful, sustained change. More concrete action, sir; less rhetoric and finger-pointing.