- PHOTO BY CLAUDINE HOUSEN
Eileen Rogers-Felix (left), assistant appraisal officer for the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), awaits her turn to sign on the dotted line as fellow JSIF employee, Christine Nickle-Jarrett, passes the contract between Family and Parenting Centre (FPC) founder and executive director, Dr. Beverley Scott and FPC community liaison officer, Victor Scott (right). Looking on is Eduaction Officer, Jennifer Francis, who witnessed the signing.
Claudine Housen, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
TWICE AS many students will be accommodated by the Montego Bay-based, Family and Parenting Centre due to a $2.3 million grant from the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF)
"This is a very exciting moment for us at the Family Parenting Centre," said Dr. Beverley Scott, its founder and executive director. She was speaking Wednesday at the contract-signing ceremony in the Old Vanhaze Building on East Street, Montego Bay.
"The $2.3 million will be used to buy 30 computers and the accessories necessary to install them," Dr. Scott said. "We have 22 computers but they do not work well. We will be replacing them and getting seven additional computers, so there will be thirty computers in terms of numbers but it will be a complete lab because all will be new."
The computers are critical to the Parenting Centre's computer skills training programme, which offers Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) information technology (IT) courses.
"The programme started in 2002 as a means of assisting the families with whom we work." Dr. Scott explained. "For the first two years, we offered only short courses and in-house certification. In the second year, we introduced the CXC information technology course."
With the new computers, the centre will not only be able to improve the quality of its services but will be able to accommodate twice as many persons.
"With our new computer lab we will be able to register over 60 persons for CXC IT," Dr. Scott said. "We now register at most 30."
In explaining how the computers will be used, Dr. Scott also disclosed upcoming plans to offer General Certificate of Education (GCE) computer courses to students via the Internet.
"Recently, we were in discussion with a representative from the Overseas Examination Counsel regarding offering GCE computer courses to our students," she said. "These examinations will be done online and at the students' convenience."
Last year, the centre registered 29 persons for the CXC IT examinations and reaped a fifty per cent pass rate. Other programmes offered by the centre include child and family therapy as well as HIV workshops.
