FUNCTIONING in a classroom without doors or windows is to become a thing of the past for the students and teachers of St Teckle Haimanot Basic School in Bull Bay, St Andrew, thanks to the intervention of corporate Jamaica.

EMPRESS... the school board and the principal have been very supportive of me

The charge was led by popular radio host and singer Empress, who went out on a public campaign to raise more than $1.6 million dollars to erect a new and solid structure for the early childhood institution.

"I fell in love with the children. I was invited there many times to talk to them and I spend a lot of my time reading with them, talking with them and just laughing with them. There was something mystic about those children and about the school, and the children are so bright," Empress told Career & Education.

The singer, whose real name is Emprezz Eartha Camielle Millings, subsequently devised the campaign, 'Teach them well and they will excel', to drive the construction of the new building in time for the new academic year. Meetings about the design of the new building are already under way. The new school facility will house three classrooms, three bathrooms, and a kitchen. Also forming a part of the works will be the first ever sick bay, complete with beds and first aid kits.

Meanwhile, talks are ongoing for a resource centre that will contain a minimum of three computers (a donation which was already made) and a library that will introduce the 63 pre-schoolers, ages three to six years, their parents and the community at large to computer literacy.

"The school board and the principal have been very supportive of me. The next plan is to involve the young men in the school because they went there and their children will go there as well. I want to show them how to write résumés, job letters - my initiative is for every child's parents to be able to help them with their homework," noted Empress. "I believe in hugs and kisses and all talk to the children about is love. The know they can call me for a book, call me for a dictionary... I want the respect and support of the community."

St Teckle Haimanot Basic School has been around for 26 years, and was being maintained by the late founding president of the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) Kingston Divison, Abba Wolde Madhin. A further $2.6 million is needed to ensure the successful construction and renovation of the resource centre.

"I have travelled around the world, wine and dined, met a lot of famous people, but nothing has been more important to me or has touched me more than this, ever," Empress said.

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