Rotary teams up with Scotia to improve literacy

A partnership between the Rotary Club of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and The Bank of Nova Scotia has seen the advent of the Club’s inaugural Literacy Project.{{more}}

The project was launched on Thursday, December 2, at the Georgetown Secondary School, where the school was presented with a cheque valued EC$41,700.

This will go towards, among other things, the purchasing of award-winning literacy software, as well as training for remedial reading teachers, staff and community leaders in the management and implementation of the software.

The Club began its support of the remedial reading programme at the Georgetown Secondary School in March 2010, by helping to sponsor 20 first form remedial students to use School Special Inc’s Academy of reading and math software for one year through Rotary International’s computer-assisted literacy solution (CALS).

Following the success of the initial two-month period, Peace Corps volunteer and remedial reading teacher Shannon Lincoln put forward a grant proposal to the Rotary Club of St.Vincent and the Grenadines, which called for an expansion of the project. She overwhelmingly convinced the organization that the project would have a positive impact on the students at the school who have literacy challenges.

The proposal was approved through the Bank of Nova Scotia’s Bright Future Fund.

Lincoln, along with Rotary Club President Francois Truchot and Scotia Bank’s Country Manager Basil Alexander, stated at Thursday’s launch that the project will improve the reading skills of the students who are behind in their reading skills.

Alexander highlighted his institution’s longstanding commitment to youth projects in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and noted that the institution intended to continue to assist the project in any way that it can.

Meanwhile, Rotary’s Director of Vocational Services Lisa Casino affirmed her organization’s dedication to literacy in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, by highlighting a number of projects already completed by the Club, and others that are in the pipeline.

She joined other speakers in urging the students involved to make the best of the programme.

The Ministry of Education’s Hannah Browne, along with the Georgetown Secondary School’s Principal Alan Burnett, who congratulated and thanked the Rotary Club and the Bank of Nova Scotia for their valued investment in the country’s future, were among the persons who delivered remarks at the launch.

As testimony to the project’s potential, three male students who are part of the programme read poems and spoke of the project’s benefit to them.

The Rotary Club of St.Vincent and the Grenadines is hoping to take the project to other schools in the future. (JJ)