Legendary Jamaican actress, singer, producer and activist Sheryl Lee Ralph along with WALKGOODLA donated 15 tablets to the Chantilly Primary School in Manchester last Wednesday.

The initiative combined the efforts of Ralph’s charity – the DIVA Foundation – and WALKGOODLA – a movement founded by her son Etienne Maurice, actor and activist – to bring people from all walks of life together to run, fight and heal in solidarity through the arts, health and wellness.

Since March 13, 2020 schools have been ordered closed by the Government in light of COVID-19 cases in Jamaica. Since then, remote learning has become the norm for students islandwide, but many students continue to face challenges in acquiring devices that would enable them access to online learning spaces.

Margaret Brooks-Cohen, infant supervisor and K3 teacher at Chantilly Primary expressed her gratitude for the tablets and the timing of the donation.

“This donation will have a positive impact on students’ learning. Cases are rising in Manchester, and we may have to close again after being face-to-face and move to online learning,” she expressed. “We are grateful for the assistance for the students. We just started face-to-face [classes] on Monday, and it’s the first time many students have encountered any form of teaching since March last year.”

Brooks-Cohen continued to express that the students at Chantilly Primary are currently doing remedial learning and admits that it has been quite a challenge. She is confident that if schools have to move back to online learning, the tablets will make a difference for the students.

Sheryl Lee Ralph emphasised the impact of education’s digital divide and the need for the Government and corporate entities to offer free Internet access to small communities like Chantilly.

“If you do not have access to data or the Internet you are left out. There is no learning, no connection. These children who are left behind, if they stay behind, the Government and communities will have to pay for them in different ways. It will be so much better to get them connected to education now,” she said.

Ralph’s commitment to improving the education and well-being of the children in the community of Chantilly is fuelled by her late mother, Ivy “Miss Ivy” Ralph OD.

“My mother had one dying wish and that was for me to never forget the district of Chantilly where she was born and raised,” Sheryl expressed.

In 2019, the DIVA Foundation issued backpacks filled with school supplies, lunch bags, and uniforms, and provided assistance with school fees to the children in Chantilly, Manchester.