| With Anguilla caught in the throes of the difficult financial situation, private enterprise, in the form of the Windsong Foundation, has again pitched in to provide fundingfor the Governmentto finance two important education projects. These are the re-development of the Valley Primary School and the recently-introduced Literacy Programme of the Ministry of Education. |
The Ministry called a press conference on Monday this week at which Minister of Education and Social Development, Edison Baird, announced the two contributions from the Windsong (Anguilla) Foundation.
He recalled that the Foundation previously contributed US$175,000 towards the completion of the new Kindergarten Block at the Valley Primary School which was officially dedicated earlier this year. “The Ministry’s vision for that project is the construction of a modern two-storey facility along the western and southern perimeter of the existing property,” Mr. Baird told reporters. “We anticipate that on completion, the existing buildings, which are approximately forty years old, will be removed and made available for sports and other recreational activities. With the current financial situation we [were] concerned as to whether we [would] be able to continue the project beyond the Kindergarten Block and we again appealed to the Windsong (Anguilla) Foundation. “We are pleased to announce that mid-August we received word that the Foundation was willing to make another contribution towards the continuation of the project. We have finally worked out all the arrangements and are pleased to announce that the Foundation is contributing 600,000US dollars towards the new phase of the project. This sum will allow us to complete the construction of additional classrooms on the existing block and the construction of another storey comprising four additional classrooms, bathrooms and storage space.” The Minister continued: “We have more good news. We thank Windsong for its contribution to another project – our Literacy Development Project – which was conceptualised based on the need to raise literacy levels. You will recall that in February of this year, we launched a literacy promotion programme geared towards raising public awareness about the importance of literacy, and also to seek public support for this important project. “We must say that our business community came on board and gave tremendous support for the project and contributed as much as they were able to. We thank them and I feel compelled to thank them again for their overwhelming support. However, we say a special thanks to the Windsong (Anguilla) Foundation for stepping up to the plate and making an initial contribution of 193,957 US dollars to this important endeavour. I say initial because the Foundation has also agreed to make further donations to the project in 2012 and 2013 which will bring the total donation to 271,222 US dollars. However, the donations in 2012 and 2013 are conditional on our continuing to give financial support to this project. “Like the Ministry, the Foundation is convinced that the project can only succeed if it is seen as a partnershipbetween the Ministry and the Anguillian community. Our challenge, therefore, is to continue to raise funds towards the project which will also secure the continuing support of the Foundation. “I would like to assure the Windsong (Anguilla) Foundation that its donations to these two projects are investments that are sure to bring returns for generations to come. This Ministry will prudently maximize the use of these funds to achieve our overall goal of raising educational standards for national development.” Attorney-at-Law, Keithley Lake, representative of the WindsongFoundation in Anguilla, said it was charged with ensuring that the legacy of the late Martin Crowley was carried forward. He stated that Mr. Crowley lived in Anguilla for many years and established the well-known Pyrat Rum Factory and the Patron Tequila business which were very successful. “Upon his death, his legacy decreed that his estate would go towards the benefit of children under 18 years,” Mr. Lake stated. “Mr. Crowley felt deeply and passionately that if you take care of the children, you will eventually get the kind of society that we all want and welcome.” He explained that it was not therefore a challenge for the Foundation to favourably consider the request of the Ministry of Education with respect to the extension of the Valley Primary School and the Literacy Project. Mr. Lake went on: “Mr. Minister you are blessed to have the Permanent Secretary [Mrs. Chanelle Petty-Barrett] that you do, because she is one persistent individual. When she was a member of our firm, Keithley Lake & Associates, she helped in all the litigation efforts that resulted in the Martin Crowley estate being successfully established. She too understood his vision and was able to turn to us when things were very tight with the Government of Anguilla. “This is only the beginning because I work with Mr. [Greg] Govenger who is my co-Foundation member, and we report to two trustees in California who head-up the Windsong Trust and who are the ultimate decision-makers on funding such as this.” Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Petty-Barrett, said that the funds for the Literacy Project would cover several aspects of the programme. “One includes the procuring of resources for schools to make sure they are made literacy-rich environments,” she explained. “Another is the catch-up programme which we began this past summer, and that’s geared at children who can probably benefit from some additional support in reading to bring them to an acceptable level. The remaining funds will go towards other aspects of the project such as advertising, promotion and training.” Meanwhile, Chief Education Officer, Mrs. Rhonda Connor, said she and her colleagues were very excited about the literacy programme. “Without our children being functionally literate, we would not be able to accomplish a number of other improvements in their performance,” she said. “I would want to also add that the Department of Education is indeed grateful to the Windsong Foundation for the contribution. In addition, in relation to us being able to monitor the success of the literacy programme, we test our children annually and we have established targets so that at the end of the five-year stint of our new Education Development Programme, we would expect certain levels of literacy. Therefore, on an annual basis we would be able to compare how we fit with our targets.” Education Planner, Mrs. Dawn Reid, said that literacy was the number one priority for the next five years. She explained that her role was drafting and developing the Education Plan as well as the project proposals for the Windsong Foundation to which she joined in offering her thanks and appreciation for its assistance. |
