WESTERN Union is hoping to donate $400,000 worth of books to 11 primary schools in the Corporate Area, Clarendon and Manchester this week under its I-Pledge initiative which was officially launched last Wednesday at Ascot Primary School in

St Catherine.

In addition to donating the books, representatives from the company will also be partnering with members of the public, the corporate sector as well as selected parliamentarians to read to the students at those schools visited.

Government ministers who will be participating include Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who will be visiting Greenwich All-Age School, Education Minister Ronald Thwaites who will be joining the students at Allman Town Primary, and Opposition Leader Andrew Holness who will be going to Drews Avenue Primary School.

Marketing Officer at Western Union, Tracy-Ann Burrell, said the organisation is striving to visit as many schools as possible over the next few years to make book donations and interact with students under their I-PLEDGE initiative. More than 60 schools have been visited under this programme since 2009.

“We do have a lot of people from the general public who are actually calling and wanting to volunteer to read, because they actually see the programme as something useful and beneficial to the youths,” she said.

“Sometimes people may say one day can’t make a difference, but it usually does. When we check back with the school, we find that some of the students who remain usually realise the benefits to be had, because when visitors go to the classroom to read, oftentimes they do not just read and leave, they rap with the students, they try to give them words of encouragement and try to get them to understand that being able to read is not just to pass exams, but there are benefits to be had when you get older and it enables you to get a better job, it helps you to advance in your careers and so on.”