Scotiabank Donates to Ministry of Education
Scotia Bank Belize is supporting efforts to promote literacy among the population. Today, the bank handed over a set of computers as well as a cheque to the Ministry of Education as a first phase. The bank will also be gifting computers to schools to be identified by the ministry. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
At a brief ceremony held this morning at the Ministry of Education offices on North Front Street in Belize City, Scotiabank Belize handed over a first set of computers. The donation will assist the ministry with its literacy program that has been rolled out across the country and seeks to make everyone read. It is part of the bank’s philanthropy to focus on health and education in Belize.
Michael Shaw
Michael Shaw, Managing Director, Scotiabank Belize
“Earlier this year, we had donated scholarships for the primary school level; this is a continuation of what we are trying to achieve in ensuring that we have a literate country and to continue to build on what the Ministry of Education is currently doing. So this morning what we donated to the Ministry of Education—and these computers are for the use of the Ministry of Education—are three computers. The second phase of it will be to donate to each school. So we have another fifteen computers to donate to some schools that the Ministry of Education will identify. So they will identify the needs in the schools and we will go in and ensure that the schools have computers in there to assist with the learning of the kids.”
Chief Education Officer, Doctor Carol Babb, says that this year, literacy is a national priority of the ministry and along with the support from partners such as Scotiabank, the program continues.
Carol Babb
Dr. Carol Babb, Chief Education Officer
“We want to ensure that all students who are not reading at grade level get the kind of support to ensure that they can read at their grade level. So what we are doing, we have identified in every district, the lowest performing schools and we are putting a lot of human and material resources to ensure that those students get the support that they need.”
According to Managing Director of Scotia Bank, Michael Shaw, the value far exceeds the actual price of the computers. A cheque of three thousand dollars was also handed over to the ministry.
Michael Shaw
“The staff that we have at Scotiabank came from the education system and we have excellent staff which means that there is in fact good education in Belize. We want to continue to build on that because we are in Belize for the long run. Next year, in fact, we will celebrate fifty years in Belize and we will start another round of working with the Ministry of Education when that time comes. The second phase of this donation this morning was to donate another three thousand dollars. I am very pleased to see what the Ministry of Education is doing with the literacy program. They have taken on a serious venture to ensure that every kid that leaves school can at least ready. Very, very critical and we are partnering with them in that mission.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
