Thompson Pen welcomes basic school expansion

THOMPSON PEN, St Catherine: THE OLD adage 'patience is a virtue' truly applies to residents of Thompson Pen in St Catherine, who recently received the keys to their newly refurbished and expanded pre-school, God Bless Basic School, courtesy of the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund.

"We have been knocking on many doors for many years and today we are truly grateful to CHASE for throwing out a lifeline to us," said an emotional Norma Brown, co-founder of the school.

Brown, whose grandmother started the school in a small space years ago, said she was proud that the school now has all the resources that they need to accommodate the children of Thompson Pen, Lauriston, Greendale, Jones Avenue, Gravel Heights, Waterloo and Sligoville. Among the items procured through the CHASE grant were classroom furniture, proper bathroom and kitchen facilities as well as additional classrooms. Brown pointed out that the school now accommodates 73 students with two trained graduate teachers, a criterion required by the Early Childhood Commission (ECC) for schools to be registered with the Ministry of Education.

Charge to community

In his address at the handover ceremony, W. Billy Heaven, chief executive officer of the CHASE Fund, reminded his audience, that included parents and teachers, of the responsibilities that came with the provision of the facilities. "Parents, remember that you are the first teachers of your children at home, together with the teachers who are responsible for equipping themselves to provide the knowledge and the environment the students need to learn," Heaven advised.

Before handing over the keys to the Principal Elaine Williams, Heaven urged members of the community to preserve the school for the purpose for which it was intended. "Do not allow these premises to be vandalised ... make every effort to protect it so that both the present students and those to come will benefit," he added.

According to Heaven, the value of a quality early-childhood education could not be overemphasised as those students who benefit would make better citizens, add to Jamaica's workforce, become taxpayers, resulting in fewer crimes being committed.

Vuraldo Barnett, communications manager of the ECC, in representing his organisation at the ceremony, thanked CHASE for assisting the commission in living up to its pledge of 'providing a clean, safe and stimulating environment for students'.

The CHASE Fund, under its Early Childhood Education Mandate, says it has expended some $1.6 billion in this sector with emphasis placed on teacher training. This is one of its flagship programmes where, in partnership with HEART Trust/NTA and teachers' colleges across the island, approximately 5,000 teachers have been trained to level two and at the diploma level.

CHASE says it also provides assistance with health screening of basic school children and support for nutritional programmes, as part of its objective to transform the sector.