Returning to Face to Face Instruction: Sprucing Up Parkinson
Project Discovery is a youth development, community service-learning organisation that continues to focus on offering assistance whenever an opportunity arises. Such an occasion happened on the 19th of February when the Parkinson Memorial School invited Project Discovery to assist them in their clean-up efforts for the impending resumption of face-to-face classes.
Project Discovery members were dispatched into school's library, information technology labs, and guest bathroom to ensure that students and staff were greeted with a clean plant in time for the Monday February 21, 2022, recommencement of face-to-face classes at the school.
Principal of the Parkinson Memorial School, Mr. Ian Holder, lauded the support from the local NGO and thanked the young people who showed up from Project Discovery.
When asked if Project Discovery had engaged in any other relief or assistance initiative during the COVID 19 pandemic, Mr. Jamarri Gaskin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Project Discovery Barbados said, “Yes we have. Project Discovery BOLT (Barbados Online Learning Teaching) project is an initiative of Project Discovery which produces internet connectivity solutions for schools. The young people (students from secondary schools, BCC, UWI and the Skills Training Programme) of Project Discovery, under the supervision of a retired engineer and a veteran educator, design, test and install site specific internet connectivity in 100 % of the teaching spaces at the respective schools at NO COST to the school, the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training (METVT), the PTA or the Alumni Association of the school.”
What is regrettable is that even though PD BOLT has been granted permission from the METVT, and even though Project Discovery has designed these site specific solutions for 2 primary schools and 4 secondary schools, and further Project Discovery has tested and trialed these solution for periods of up to 3 months at some of these schools starting in October 2020, PD BOLT has been repeatedly shut down by specific school administrators at 2 secondary schools and 1 primary school even though Project Discovery provided fully documented evidence (at the request of the administrators) that the system surpassed every stated need of the school re connectivity.
Mr. Gaskin went on to state that Project Discovery was especially grateful to The Legacy Foundation who have been the major sponsor of the PD BOLT along with other companies such as EY who have also contributed to the BOLT initiative.
Mr Gaskin added “The cleanup of volcanic ash at St. Leonard’s Boys’ School and also Parkinson Memorial School on May 1, 2021 by the youth of Project Discovery is another assistance initiative that was carried out during the COVID 19 Pandemic”.
Another Project Discovery Director noted that “We have also assisted the families of secondary school students by having electricity supplies installed at their homes as well as providing Care Packages of clothing, toiletries and hygiene products along with school supplies to students. This assistance is routed through the Guidance Counsellors at the respective schools. It is more usually the case that the guidance counsellors or Principals reach out to us and then we respond through the school”.