The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE Grand Bahama Port Authority Ltd presented 42 tablets yesterday for school students in East End that are now attending three public schools in Freeport.

Sarah St George, chairman of the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA), and Telina Smith, human resources manager, made the presentation at the GBPA headquarters.

The tablets will be given to East End students at Sir Jack Hayward High Jr, St Georges’ High, and Sister Mary Patricia Russell Junior high schools.

Joyanne Pennerman, principal at Jack Hayward, thanked Ms St George and the GBPA for remembering the children and families in East End.

“I would like to express a heartfelt thank you to Ms St George and the team of the GBPA for...thinking about the families and students of East End,” she said.

The Ministry of Education in October 2020 officially launched its ‘One Laptop or Tablet Per Child’ initiative, which is designed to promote inclusivity in the education sector. The estimated cost to provide laptops and tablets is $4.5m.

The objective is to ensure that every school student has access to a tablet device for electronic, online and virtual learning programmes in the public school system.

The ministry believes this could be attainable with help and partnership with companies in the private sector.

Remelda Thomas, a senior mistress at Jack Hayward Junior High, described the donation of tablets by GBPA as a “kindhearted gesture” to students of EGB.

Ms Thomas was the principal at a school in McLean’s Town that was destroyed in September 2019. She also lost her son, Philip Thomas Jr., known as “PJ,” and three grandchildren during the storm.

“Hurricane Dorian decimated EGB,” Ms Thomas recalled. “Not only did that storm take lives, it also took our material possessions, including school supplies and devices. And so as a former principal of East End Junior High School, I am certain that our students who are now here in Freeport attending school, will feel blessed that they have received these gifts, and I am sure they would be overjoyed,” she said at Thursday’s presentation.

Cecil Thompson - who helped Sarah St George and Lady Henrietta St George at GBPA organise the memorial service in December 2019 for Dorian victims – said the late GBPA chairman Edward St George would be proud about what his daughter and the GBPA is doing to assist students of East End.

Mr Thompson stated that the GBPA also built a monument at the foot of the Jack Hayward Bridge to memorialise the victims.

“Mrs Remelda Thomas and her husband, Philip Thomas, lost their son, and three grandchildren during the hurricane,” he said.

Mr Thompson stated that the GBPA has been a “good friend” to the residents of GB and East End.