New York, USA — The Friends of Charlie Mount High School near Linstead in St Catherine is committing further assistance to the institution with the provision of tablets to help students with their distance learning programme. The decision follows a recent fund-raising event which raised US $7,000.

The event was spearheaded by David Marshall, president, and Benjamin Powell, vice-president of the New York chapter of the friends of the school, a grouping of past students based here. Powell told the Jamaica Observer that two shipments totalling 45 tablets had already been made to the school. The project cost just over $600,000.

“The aim is to ship a further 70 tablets by the end of April,” he told the Observer in an interview.

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic a year ago this month, individuals and alumni of various educational institutions have stepped up to assist and ease the challenges which students and educators have faced as a result of distance teaching.

— Harold G Bailey