OUR GOAL, LITERACY FOR ALL

Independence City Primary School, Digicel Foundation united in purpose

“Our Goal, Literacy for All” was indeed a fitting theme for the day that Independence City Primary School officially became the 58 ^th school involved in the Digicel Foundation Enrichment Initiative. On May 30, 2012, the Digicel Foundation handed over an Enrichment Centre to the school in Gregory Park. The much anticipated handover marked the commencement of the school’s fourth annual Literacy Fair celebrated under the above theme, which resonates with the Foundation’s commitment to support the government’s goal of 100% literacy. Literacy has always been both a challenge and a primary area of focus for Independence City Primary School. Due to its policy of not turning children away, many students enter the school reading well below their grade level. The school has always had a literacy programme but had been limited by the lack an adequate setting in which to engage the many students in need of interventions. This problem has now been definitively addressed by the Enrichment Centre provided by the Digicel Foundation. The centre is a retrofitted space that houses a wide variety of innovative Information and Communication Technologies along with various literacy software and manipulatives for the students to experiment with and learn from. In the well-lit, brightly painted room, child sized furniture gleams and a vague odour of fresh pain still lingers, but the personalised touches added by Mrs. Dawson encourage students to feel at home. As the children begin their first activity, it’s hard to tell whether they, or Mrs. Dawson herself, are more excited. “I think the Enrichment Centre is a God Send” stated Mrs. Dawson “the Children are so excited and I know that they will benefit enormously. I thank the Digicel Foundation whole heartedly for the support they have provided for our literacy programme, I just know we are going to do great things here” “The Digicel Foundation was really impressed with the school’s commitment to increasing its literacy levels, we saw how hard they were working without adequate resources, so we are very pleased to be able to provide them with this support,” commented Executive Director of the Digicel Foundation, Samantha Chantrelle.