Backpacks for St. John Vianney’s Students
Back-to-school initiatives have been underway as the country prepares for the restart of the new school year. And while face-to-face in-class learning has been pushed back to October, it is not stopping parents from getting ready. But even that has been a challenge with the economic crunch brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, News Five headed over to Saint John Vianney Catholic Primary School where Inspirational Promotions was giving parents that helping hand by issuing school bags to students.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Over a hundred and seventy students from Saint John Vianney Catholic Primary School will be recipients of the school bags to help them as they prepared to return to classes. It is a big help for parents, who have been struggling to make ends meet.
Felicia Revers, Mother
“It helps me a lot because I noh di work right now; only my boy di work.”
Felicia Revers
Duane Moody
“So they are all yours?”
Felicia Revers
“Yeah. All five ah dehn.”
Duane Moody
“And four of them di get school bags today?”
Felicia Revers
“No, only three of them because the oldest one di go dah high school; just start high school.”
Duane Moody
“You got two more to find stuff for?”
Ingrid Perez
Ingrid Perez, Mother
“Yes, I got a lee bwai and a next girl.”
Duane Moody
“How has it been getting ready for school?”
Ingrid Perez
“I noh ready yet. Right now it is too hard to work so I noh ready yet. A teacher call me and tell me dehn done have work to do home, so that I ready because at home I help all my kids. But fuh send to school, I noh ready yet.”
Today, one hundred of those bags were issued by Inspirational Promotions, a non-profit which has been assisting children in the Faber’s Road area with back-to-school haircuts and braiding as well as school supplies free of cost since 2009.
Edmond Staine
Edmond Staine, Organizer, Inspirational Promotions
“Due to the COVID, since last year, we weren’t able to deliver the program. We had everything planned; we were able to secure some donation t the time from B.N.E. Charitable Trust, from in the Light Ministries, from some other people that were able to give us some schoolbags. But at that time, we weren’t able to give them because the schools didn’t open. We decided this year to partner with the schools to see how we could find the kids that are the most needy and to bring them out to the school so that when they receive their school package, they could get it within a school bag.”
Felix Sutherland
Felix Sutherland, Principal, Saint John Vianney Catholic School
“Some may ask why backpack? Well even with the distance learning, the students will need backpack as a way of organizing their work so for that we are extremely and I am sure that our students will put them to good use.”
A graduate of Saint John Vianney himself, Staine says that after meeting with the leadership of the institution, he found there is a need for additional support in terms of providing access to internet and electronic devices for the students who attend the school.
Edmond Staine
“We went into the communities to see if we could find people that have wifi to share passwords with the people that don’t have so that the kids can connect. But that wasn’t enough because the kids can’t connect if they don’t have a device. So we are partnering with B.N.E. again and see how we could get some assistance from UNICEF. They say they are going to reach out to other people to see how we could get support because we want to be able to help the kids especially from standard four, standard five, going into standard six so that this transition into high school could be smoother. The biggest need is to get these kids connected so that they can participate in the classes so that they are not left behind.”
While a hundred school bags were issued today, another seventy-five will be distributed next week. Duane Moody for News Five.
