Oracabessa Primary gets computer lab - Issa Trust, Oracabessa, NCB foundations collaborate to help St Mary school

More than 900 students at Oracabessa Primary School in St Mary are now benefiting from a new computer lab and refurbished restroom facilities, thanks to the combined efforts of several private-sector entities.

Initiated by the Issa Trust Foundation (ITF), the charity arm of Couples Resorts, the project also benefited from input by Chris Blackwell's Oracabessa Foundation and the National Commercial Bank (NCB) Foundation.

More than US$40,000 was spent on both projects.

Chairman of the Issa Trust Foundation Paul Issa said the decision to assist the school came last year when ITF brought a Kiwanis Club of Michigan team on a medical mission and he saw the needs of the school.

He called Blackwell, who immediately agreed to assist with the project.

RESTROOMS REPAIRED

"We repaired the boys' and girls' restrooms, which were really in a bad state, and we turned this [room] into a computer lab," Issa said.

"We have 18 computers. We figured the average class was about 34 or 35 kids and that we could split them into two sections and bring in half the class at one time.

"I am happy to see it happen. Issa Trust Foundation is mainly focused on paediatric healthcare, but we also focus on education, and this is the kind of thing we would like to replicate, if possible, with our partners."

In his comments, Chairman of the Oracabessa Foundation Chris Blackwell said the future is all about computers and that the computer lab was a great start for the children to begin spending as much time as they can in this field.

Meanwhile, both Floyd Green, minister of state in the Ministry of Education, and Robert Montague, member of parliament for Western St Mary, the constituency where the school is located, praised the contributions of the entities involved in the project.

Montague said the good performance of the school, academically, means that it is an institution that the ministry should invest in.

Green, who spoke after Montague, then pledged to make funds available to the school from next year's Budget.

Principal Gregory Davis said that he was elated about the assistance given to the school and thanked the groups for the help.