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As a contribution to the Government s Tablets in Schools Programme, the St James Municipal Corporation recently donated 170 tablets valued at over $4 million to needy students drawn from across the 17 municipal council divisions in the parish.
The presentations, which took place at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre, saw 10 students from each division being given tablets to foster their participation in virtual learning during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Chairman of the finance committee at the corporation and Councillor for the Maroon Town Division, Everes Coke, said the donation could not have come at a better time.
“As councillors, we are faced with various requests from our constituents. Since the onset of COVID-19 and the implementation of virtual teaching and learning, a number of students in the parish have been facing difficulties in obtaining the correct devices to be part of the system.
AFTER THE FLOOD: Workmen were busy up to yesterday cleaning up at Riu Reggae after flood waters raged through the lobby and ground floor rooms on Monday afternoon. The water marks on the cars parked in the background indicate how high the water reached. The clean-up crew worked feverishly to clear the sea of mud which was deposited in front of the hotel. – CWP photo
Clinton Pickering – Freelance Writer
Three years in succession, the Riu Reggae hotel at Rose Hall in Montego Bay has been impacted negatively by flooding in the wake of heavy showers. The flooding is caused by a build-up of debris in a drain that runs from the Flower Hill/Salt Spring hills with heavy rainfall, such as Monday afternoon’s sudden downpour.
Everes Coke (third right), councillor for the Maroon Town division in the St James Municipal Corporation, chats with a group of students who were among 170 recipients of tablet computers on Wednesday, December 16. The recipients were selected from schools across St James.
WESTERN BUREAU:
One hundred and seventy students from St James are now the recipients of tablet computers, thanks to the St James Municipal Corporation (StJMC) which handed over the devices, putting them in a position to access online classes.
The tablets, valued at just over J$4 million, were distributed to the students at the Montego Bay Cultural Centre in Sam Sharpe Square, Montego Bay, last Wednesday. In keeping with the COVID-19 protocols, the children came in small groups during the course of the day to receive the devices.Osani Haye, a 12-year-old, grade-seven student of Cornwall College, said that his new device would make online learning a simpler affair, compared to his previous use of a cellular ph