St Thomas school’s water woes eased

Principal of Lloyds Basic School Elesha Cuthbert is breathing a sigh of relief as the institution now has the funds to rehabilitate the concrete structure on which to place its water tank.

This following a cash donation from the Jamaican-owned remittance brand JN Money. The rehabilitated structure also means the school will be able to keep its doors open to serve the community when face-to-face classes resume. The school caters to 28 children currently, about half the number it had prior to COVID-19.

"We used to have a water pump but it had stopped working, and so we needed a gravity feed for the tank. It was agreed that getting a structure on which to place the tank would fix the issue. Most of the times we have water being pumped to the school only twice per week, but now that the concrete structure will be in place, we have a constant flow of water," an elated Cuthbert related.

She noted that previously, teachers and students had to bring water to the bathrooms in buckets to fill a water drum, which would then be used to flush the toilets.

Sanya Wallace, senior manager for strategic planning and marketing at JN Money, said the support to Lloyds Basic School was the initiative chosen this year for the JN Money School Assist programme, which provides financial support to schools and students in need and forms a part of the company's annual back-to-school campaign.

She noted that education is especially important to JN Money because a significant percentage of remittances to Jamaica are intended to assist with schooling, especially in rural areas such as Lloyds district. She explained that Lloyds was selected for assistance by the JN Group's philanthropic arm, the JN Foundation, which conducted a needs assessment of the institution after receiving a letter from them earlier this year.

"And after speaking with the principal to further assess their needs, we were positive that the impact of this initiative would be far-reaching, as it would not only assist with maintaining good hygiene practices and providing basic amenities to sustain a healthy school environment safe from COVID-19 and other infections, but it would also keep the school in operation to provide more opportunities for the community's children," said Wallace.

Lloyds' student population declined to 15 during the height of the pandemic, according to Cuthbert, as there was a move to online teaching and learning.

"We go out to meet with and teach some of the students at least twice per week, because there are some students that we have not been able to reach at all owing to the fact that they do not have gadgets, and some of the surrounding areas have no Internet connectivity or mobile data connection," said Cuthbert.