SOME 70 grade-five students from South West St Ann are to benefit from a literacy programme facilitated by Breezes Runaway Bay and a team of education specialists from Canada.

The team of specialists is headed by Edna Dargie.
The students, who are currently performing below the grade-five level, are from communities like Alexandria, Murray Mountain, Clydesdale, Mount Mariah, Watt Town, Linton Park, and Retirement.

The students will be going to grade six in the new academic year and will sit the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) examination.

It is in a bid to aid their preparedness for these exams that Dargie and her team has procured learning equipment and books for the children. They have also volunteered two weeks of their time to make a difference in the lives of the students who are facing a challenge in learning to read.

Most of the children in the project come from poor backgrounds and Breezes' general manager, Kevin Levee, said the hotel was cognisant of this and did not hesitate when the request came from Adita Sherwood of the Ministry of Education's Region Three office to help the Canadian team's efforts. The hotel provides accommodation for the four education specialists, who came from Canada to do the project.

Dargie said the project, which has been running for more than five years has yielded much success over the years. She said the students who participate are usually from an economically challenged background and are not doing well in school for various reasons and for them the summer camp provides the last chance to improve their literacy skills.

At the start of the camp, Dargie said some students had challenges telling the phonetic sounds of certain letters of the alphabet.

She noted that one-on-one interaction by members of her team made it possible for these students to be able to read and they were able to sit the grade four literacy test.

Public relations manager at Breezes Runaway Bay, Patricia Clarke, said the project has her full support as she knows what it is like to be a slow learner. She said that her life's story is a testimony that literacy challenges can be overcome.

She did not grasp reading skills until age 11, but went on to excel at high school and university levels and managed to realise her dreams of becoming a well rounded media practitioner and public relations specialist .

She currently presents the popular Jamaica Corner Programme on IRIE FM, and participates in various community projects facilitated by Breezes Runaway Bay where she heads the public relations department.

At the closing ceremony of the camp, Sherwood told the students that they should adopt the motto: "A word a day will keep illiteracy away."

She told those parents present to encourage their children to follow up on what they had learned during the two-week course.

The students showcased their talents and some of what they had learned in a concert during the closing ceremony.

The results of the grade four literacy test which they did were heartening as several students receiving perfect marks for word recognition and also outstanding marks in reading comprehension and communication task.

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