Azan gives $2.5m to Clarendon schools for vocational projects
SPALDING, Clarendon — Five schools in Clarendon North West last Thursday benefited from a gift of $500,000 each from their Member of Parliament Richard Azan, to enhance vocational subject areas of their choice.
The project, which is in its fourth year, is an initiative of Azan.
Alston High, Thompson Town High, Spalding High, Claude McKay High and Knox College were given funding at a handover ceremony at Knox College.
Except for Knox, all the other schools have been previous beneficiaries and boast reports of improvements in areas such as home economics, visual arts, industrial arts, cosmetology and computer labs.
Principal of Knox College, Alexander Bourne, said the $500,000 will go towards the upgrading of the Home Economics Department in his school with the purchase of refrigerators, stoves and sewing machines.
He said that though his institution is classified as a “traditional” or “brand” school he wants to do more in terms of vocational training.
“One of the strategic objectives of Knox is to increase and improve the technical vocational offerings at the school. We see ourselves in the near future being at the point where every Knox student does a ‘tech voc’ subject… tomorrow’s world requires people who not only know things but can do things,” he said.
The vocational project in Clarendon North West is funded through the Government’s Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
Director of the CDF, Moveta Munroe, said that each Member of Parliament was allocated $20 million this year to upgrade their constituencies.
“This particular project that has been going on for four years is an exceptional one. It is exceptional in that it impacts on so many lives. It is just not this set (of students), but the set after will benefit and there are those who have gone before,” she said.
Munroe urged the students to see the effort as a “golden opportunity”, noting that a skill will enable them to enter the working world confident that they can quickly start earning.
Azan said that his work in education in the constituency is not only being done at the secondary level but within primary and early childhood institutions.
