1,400 tablets for grade six students - Sandals Foundation helping to support online learning

Sandals Foundation has delivered 28 tablets to the Ocho Rios Primary School in St Ann to serve grade six students, who are just above the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education programme threshold, but whose needs were assessed and determined to be of high priority by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information.

The donation is part of a plan to donate over 1,400 tablets to students at the primary level across the island, to enable access to online classes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number is also part of a total of over 2,000 tablets which have been sourced to support the Caribbean’s online learning needs following the successful execution of the foundation’s ‘Lessons Alive’ social media fundraising campaign.

The tablets have all been equipped with the Ministry of Education Youth and Information’s e-Resource app, as well as Digicel SIM cards bearing two months’ worth of data plan.

Students from over 40 schools across St James, St Ann, St Mary, Hanover and Westmoreland will benefit from the initiative.

Designated Donations

In Jamaica, the devices were made possible through designated donations from Sandals Resorts International, major partners including Digicel Foundation, Rainforest Seafoods, Fontana, Grab N Go, Fraser Fontaine and Kong Insurance, Billy Craig Insurance Brokers, 4Ys Foundation, and CPJ, and an incredible network of Sandals and Beaches Resorts guests.

Heidi Clarke, executive director at the Sandals Foundation, said the initiative is part of the foundation’s sustainable investment in the region’s education sector.

“It was very important for us to help make the transition to online learning as easy as possible. The digital transformation within our education system is inevitable as more of our lives’ activities are being done online,” Clarke noted.

“We must ensure our children are digitally literate and there is equitable access to the technological tools so they can continue their learning,” she added.

Meanwhile, principal at Ocho Rios Primary School, Suzette Barnes-Wilson, welcomed the donation, saying it will enable students to complete their assignments on time and not be left behind.

Chairman of the school board, Michael Belnavis, commended the Sandals Foundation on the donation, describing it as timely.