THE Regional Statistical Unit of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat yesterday held its Annual Statistics Day prize-giving ceremony for its essay and quiz at the Caricom Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown.

The competitions began on the 8th October and ended yesterday, which was celebrated as ‘Caribbean Statistics Day 2013’. Sixteen schools participated in this year’s competitions.

Delivering brief remarks and the feature address to the gathering was Ambassador Colin Granderson, Assistant Secretary General, Directorate of Foreign Policy and Community Relations of the CARICOM Secretariat. He noted his great pleasure to say a few words on behalf of CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, on the occasion of the Fifth Observance of Caribbean Statistics Day.
He said this year’s observance of Caribbean Statistics Day is located within the worldwide commemoration of International Year of Statistics (Statistics 2013), the founding organisations of this overall celebration, which include the International Statistical Institute, the Royal Statistical Society and the American Statistical Association.
Moreover, this year is also a milestone in CARICOM, which is observing its 40th Anniversary, symbolising the vision of our founding fathers who saw regional integration as the path to achieving growth and development of our countries, and specifically the improvement of the levels of living of our peoples.
He added that statistics play a vital role in CARICOM, since it is critical to providing data for evidence-based policies that can guide and monitor our progress at the country and regional levels.
The Regional Statistics Programme of the CARICOM Secretariat works with countries and international and regional organisations in an effort to strengthen capacity to produce a range of statistics and indicators that are then disseminated to users.
He mentioned that our key international development partners play a vital role in supporting the efforts at statistical development in the Region. These include the European Community, (EU) the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Department For International Development (DFID), the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the Twenty-First Century, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the United Nations System – United Nations Statistics Division, United Nations Children Fund, the United Nations Population Fund and the other UN agencies.
These agencies are contributing through the development and implementation of frameworks and methods to mitigate the challenges being experienced by countries in statistical data collection, compilation, and dissemination.
Special mention must be made of the European Community for the support provided to enable the conduct of the various competitions held during this year, through contributing to:

(1) The trophies and prizes for the primary and secondary schools quiz competitions, and also for the essay competitions; and
(2) The prizes for the Logo and Motto competitions that have been held throughout the region to launch the Caribbean Association of Professional Statisticians.

“We would like to extend our deepest appreciation to H.E. Mr. Robert Kopecky for this support.
As we ponder on the theme for Statistics 2013 – Statistics in Everyday Life, let us Educate and Appreciate — it is hoped that the discipline of statistics will continue to play a central and positive role in the lives of all of the peoples of our Community, and that there would be increased awareness of the profession through the establishment of the Professional Association of Statisticians,” he said.
He thanked the schools that participated in the Quiz and Essay competitions and said he felt assured that the key goals of Statistics 2013, through participation of those schools, have been achieved. Those goals are:(a)Increasing public awareness of the power and far-reaching impact of statistics on all aspects of society (b) Promoting and nurturing statistics as a profession, especially among young people, and (c) Promoting creativity and development in the sciences of probability and statistics.
He congratulated the young winners of the various competitions, and embraced opportunity to commend statisticians across the Region as they continue to strive for the production of timely and high quality statistical products to advance our countries and our Community.

Winners of the Quiz Competition were:
Primary
3rd – North Georgetown
2nd – West Ruimveldt
1st – Winfer Gardens

Secondary
3rd – Central High School
2nd – St. Stanislaus College
1st – Brickdam Secondary

For the Essay Competition, prizes were awarded to:
Secondary
3rd – Brickdam
2nd – Charleston
1st- North Ruimveldt Multilateral School

Primary
3rd – St. Margaret’s
2nd – St. Angela’s