Gavin Beckford, marketing manager GTECH Jamaica, unveils the GTECH Education Programme at the GTECH 25th anniversary awards dinner at the Pegasus Hotel on Wednesday. - Contributed
GTECH JAMAICA, the technology services provider to lottery giant, Supreme Ventures, has launched an education programme for schools in rural areas. The programme will seek to identify and assist high performers by way of scholarships and grants that will cover tuition, books and school supplies.
Speaking at the unveiling ceremony at the GTECH anniversary dinner recently last, Ann Dawn Young Sang, general manager GTECH Jamaica, said that the aim of the programme was to address some of the major problems affecting schools and students at the early childhood and primary levels.
"If we produce, at the primary level, students who are neither literate nor numerate, or who are in need of substantial remedial work, the likelihood that difficulties will also be manifested at the secondary and tertiary levels will be greatly increased," Mrs. Young Sang said.
If these problems are not dealt with early, she said, then the chances for Jamaica's growth and advancement in a rapidly-changing international economic environment will be diminished.
According to Mrs. Young Sang, the process must include not only the upgrading of skills at the primary and early childhood level, but the complete infrastructural development of our schools and the unwavering support of the Ministry of Education and other sectors.
"We will be working in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and the respective school administration to begin this process, which will also include the establishment of a computer laboratory at each school," Mrs. Young Sang disclosed. "These labs will be maintained on a quarterly basis by our own technicians and will be tied into the technician's schedule and performance objectives."
