Grade-three students get textbook support

THREE HUNDRED students enrolled at the grade-three level at the DuPont Primary School are now beneficiaries of textbook supplies, through the efforts of the Rescue Package (RPF) Foundation and the Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) Foundation.

At a ceremony held at the school in Olympic Gardens last Saturday, school officials, students and parents gathered to participate in the official handover of educational material.

Carolyn Green-Bryan, grade-three coordinator at the institution, said the books will ease the overwhelming deficiency of students not equipped with the prescribed books, which affects their overall performance in core subject areas.

"We have a big problem. Students come to class without the books because their parents either can't afford to purchase the books or don't see the need to buy them. However, as teachers, we try our best to educate parents about the importance of children having the required text and workbooks to use in class and at home," Green-Bryan explained.

The grade coordinator also said the availability of work and textbooks in classes will result in a less-strained teaching environment, ensuring more content areas are being covered.

"You find that when the students don't have the books, teachers have to spend a lot of teaching time writing on the board. We have to write the content from the text and workbooks for students to follow, and this takes up a lot of valuable teaching time," she stated.

The first project of this nature for the Rescue Package Founda-tion (RPF), the aim is to improve literacy and numeracy skills among students at the primary level.

"DuPont Primary is the first target," Wade Howell, marketing volunteer for RPF, said, "And the project, which initially targeted grade-three students who will sit the Grade 4 Numeracy and Literacy exam in 2014, will be evaluated, based on their examination results."