Courts St Vincent Ltd continues to play its part in education

Furniture and appliance store Courts St Vincent Limited has cemented its commitment to education in St Vincent and the Grenadines with a donation to the remedial reading programme of the Ministry of Education.{{more}}

On September 17, during the launch of the local leg of the 2013 OECS Reading Competition, Courts senior marketing officer Alexis John announced that EC$1,500 would be donated to the Ministry of Education, to assist with its fight against illiteracy in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

John related a recent encounter with a grade six student, which he said moved him to tears. The marketing officer said the boy was unable to read at his level, despite being strong in other areas.

“He is pretty good in maths, he can spell his name, he can write his name, but he cannot read… he is still struggling. That demonstrates that here are students in our schools who are not as fortunate.

“We are still fully aware that a number of students are still struggling, so we are well pleased to contribute to this programme that will help our kids to reach the level of ensuring that they can read well,” John said.

The cheque was handed over to Mavis Joseph, education officer in the Language, Literacy and Communication division in the Ministry of Education by Courts general manager Michele Samuel.

Joseph said that the donation was a dream come true, which would help her ministry to focus on the capacity building aspect of the education process.

“We have recognized that even at the secondary level, there are students who are not performing at the desired grade. They are, in fact, way down on the primary level,” Joseph indicated.

“We find students who are unable to identify letters, give corresponding letters to sounds and indeed it is heart-breaking.”

Joseph said that the remedial programme is geared towards diagnosing students’ weaknesses, and coming up with the necessary and appropriate intervention plans in order to remediate the problems.

“However, whenever we try to run programmes such as these, it is always important to have the necessary resources; so I could say that this donation will, in fact, go a very long way in carrying through this remedial programme.

“We wish again to say thank you very much, we appreciate your effort,” Joseph said.

Courts and the Ministry of Education have been working together on a number of beneficial projects over the years.