GraceKennedy organises back-to-school fair

Dalton Laing, Gleaner Writer

SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland:

Western Jamaica received its own back-to-school from GraceKennedy Money Services (GKMS) through a fair at Independence Park in Savanna-la-Mar.

Patria-Kaye Aarons, sponsorship and communications manager at GKMS, said this was the second back-to-school fair following one in Linstead, St Catherine.

"For a long time now, GKMS has been big on education and because we want to give back to the communities which have supported us over the years, we decided to put on these back-to-school fairs where we can package the different offerings in one place for easy access," Aarons said.

She also said that her organisation has already provided sponsorship grants of more than $2.5 million in addition to the computerisation of 14 schools.

"We want to computerise a minimum of 30 schools across the country and, this year alone, we did 14."

The I Pledge Programme conceptualised by GKMS is geared at literacy for primary-school students that the company believes is the key area to concentrate on to produce an educated nation.

Improving literacy

"We are going to do everything we can to make sure the primary-school students can read, and we have started out with a Reading Week in April."

Reading Week was extended into an English competition then into a debate competition. The computerisation programme is the fourth aspect of the literacy programme under the Western Union brand.

There are three subsidiaries under GKMS and they are Western Union Money Transfer, Bill Express and FX Trader.

The back-to-school fair in Savanna-la-Mar featured performances from Chris Martin and Denique. Clowns and face-painters also spurred some excitement for the almost 1,000 children and adults in attendance.

Sangster's Book Stores also offered a 10 per cent discount on books, and textbooks shoppers capitalised on the special deal. The Registrar General's Department, LIME and the Heart Foundation of Jamaica are also participating in the event.