Following the closure of all schools in Barbados and the immediate adoption of online learning classrooms due to the Novel Coronavirus covid-19, our club in recognizing our need to serve our community immediately reassessed the needs of the children of Barbados and pivoted.
We instantly made the provision of electronic devices in the form of tablets one of our priorities for the 2020-2021 Rotary year. During the first quarter we were successful in meeting the needs of some public primary school children between the ages of 9 and 11 who we determined would primarily be those children in need.
The schools to which we donated 176 tablets were identified with the assistance of the Ministry of Education Technological and Vocational Training and based on our own internal investigations. The pupils who received tablets attended the following primary schools: St. Mary’s Primary School, St. Paul’s Primary, Milton Lynch Primary School, Carrington Primary School, Charles F. Broome Primary School, Belmont Primary School, Gordon Walters Primary School.
Each tablet was programmed with Google Suite and tracking devices to ensure that each student had immediate access to their online classroom and that the devices met the specifications of the Ministry for that age group.
By donating to these school children in classes 3 and 4 The Rotary Club of Barbados was able to ensure that some 176 children were able to access their virtual classrooms and continue their school education online.
Our donation of tablets was not limited to the primary schools only but went one step further; namely to those children who are specially or differently abled and who attend the Schoolhouse for Special Needs. We continue to recognize that all children must have equal opportunity to education and as such donated an additional 10 tablets for use by the children at this School so that they too can continue their education.
The total donations of tablets stand at 186 tablets comprising 176 to the children attending public Government Primary Schools and 10 to the children attending the Schoolhouse.
We are thankful to all who came forward to assist including private citizens, RBC (Barbados) Trading Bank Corporation, Oran Family Trust, CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank (Barbados) Limited; Caribbean Label Crafts Ltd, West India Biscuit Company Ltd (WIBISCO) and our own Members of the Rotary Club of Barbados.
