The Tribune

ROTARY clubs have donated $20,000 to the help students evacuated from Abaco and Grand Bahama after Hurricane Dorian.

The money was presented by the nine clubs in District 7020 to the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI) and will provide tablet devices to students.

The presentation was made by the Rotary Bahamas Disaster Relief (RBDR) on behalf of the District 7020 Rotary Clubs, which include Abaco, East Nassau, Eleuthera, Nassau, Nassau Sunrise, New Providence, Old Fort, South-East and West Nassau.

RBDR chairman Bryan Knowles, said: “Our service objective, in this regard, is to assist those who were unfavourably impacted by Hurricane Dorian. In this case, evacuated students. It also aligns with one of our areas of focus: supporting education.”

BTVI’s dean of information technology and distance learning, Anthony Ramtulla, said it was an “incredible donation”.

“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic or other difficulties, many students are not able to acquire their own devices, so this donation is very timely,” said Mr Ramtulla.

BTVI’s president Dr Robert W Robertson said: “The impact of Hurricane Dorian has illustrated the importance of technology and COVID-19 has reinforced that we must be prepared for the digital economy.”