Bull Bay equipped for greater learning

Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter

TUCKED AWAY in the Windsor Lodge community, which is located off the busy Bull Bay main road in St Andrew, are two refurbished buildings which are to be used as learning centres for children within in the area.

The purple and yellow facilities, which one resident described as a breath of fresh air, stand out beautifully as they wait for the day when children will invade and put them to the use for which they have been designed.

"They were derelict buildings since 1983. One was just left idle and the other a squatter residence, which is now transformed into a library. What was the derelict building was a community centre, which will now be a computer lab," Damion Crawford, the member of parliament (MP) for East Rural St Andrew said.

Crawford, a first-term MP, said the operation of the after-school centre is in keeping with a 3-2-1 education plan, which envisions that after five years there would be three CXC subjects per household, and ten years thereafter there will be two A-Level subjects per household, and five years after that, each household in the constituency would have at least one degree holder.

Crawford told The Gleaner that in addition to this facility, which he hopes to have opened by month end, similar ones will be built in Gordon Town and Mavis Bank in the constituency. He said the selection of the areas was based on the fact that no libraries are located to those communities.

"The Statistical Institute of Jamaica has said that East Rural St Andrew is the second from last in terms of general literacy and the programmes being put in place are aimed at reversing that. We expect that within another year or two we will be in the top five, if not the top two.

Permanent staff

"We are hiring four permanent persons to run the facilities. There will be a librarian, two literacy specialists, who will be responsible for assisting persons who are reading below their grade level," Crawford said.

He explained that students who are reading below their grade level will be enrolled in a literacy class for two days per week between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.

"Persons within the community who want to participate will be registered, and if they are absent their parents will be informed via text messages, and therefore they will not be able to use the after-school centre as an excuse not to go home after classes," Crawford said.

According to Crawford, some $11.6 million has been spent on the buildings so far, a price tag which does not include the cost of including solar panels and batteries, computers and other gadgets such as interactive boards used in the e-learning. He said some 50 computers and 20 laptops will be a part of the project.

The MP said the library will be stocked with five of each required textbook for all grade levels, from Grade one at primary school to sixth form at the secondary school level. He added that students will be able to borrow laptop computers in order to do group work under six study gazebos that adorn the wheelchair accessible property.

Efficient energy

Crawford further told The Gleaner that the cost of maintaining the facility will be kept low due to the use of solar energy for lighting and rainwater harvesting for the lawns. He said that while the Constituency Development Fund (CFD) will be used to assist in paying the staff, each student is required to pay $50 for two hours to help off-set the operational cost.

Perhaps in anticipation of the opening of the facility, a group of students, on seeing the MP at the facility, toured the computer room, some with their mouths open.

"Everyday dem ask when it going to open," the caretaker at the facility told The Gleaner. Another resident said she is amazed that the old shell has been so transformed and expressed hope that it will help persons in the community, including children, to excel.