ST CATHERINE, Jamaica — A donation of almost 600 computer tablets has been gifted to students in St Catherine and St Mary recently to support their education.

The donation is said to cost some $14 million and was distributed across 85 institutions in the two parishes.

Melvin McDonald, a New York-based Jamaican, said after seeing a news broadcast which highlighted the challenges that local students were having in accessing online classes during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, he was moved to make the contribution.

The retired educator and philanthropist, who is a St Mary native, said he first contacted a minister of religion from St Catherine, who shared that he witnessed three students using one mobile phone for remote learning.

“Both incidents touched me, and as a former teacher, I thought about what I could do to help some children in Jamaica, and I decided that the best way I could help them was to give them some tablets,” McDonald said.

Subsequently, he contacted the Ministry of Education and Youth and made the contribution.

He said: “I hope that the students will use the tablets for one purpose, to enhance their education; that is my greatest hope. If my effort can prevent five or 10 per cent of them from becoming problems to society, then I would have achieved my objective.”

The principal of the Brainerd Primary School, David Schleifer, has expressed his gratitude.

He said: “This is saying to us that there are good individuals out there in the society, who are saying ‘this is my country, this is my Jamaica, and I can make a difference in the lives of children’. We definitely need some more individuals like Mr. McDonald to invest in the nation’s children.”

McDonald shared that he will also award two scholarships to students from the St Catherine-based Grateful Hill Primary School next year.