Two brand new school libraries have been opened in St Patrick by GND Schools Inc., (GSI). St Patrick’s Anglican and St Patrick’s RC schools were the recent recipients of the libraries, which were both officially opened on 1 November 2019.
The launch of these two school libraries marked the climax of a one-week visit to Grenada from GND Schools Inc.’s main donors Michael and Melanie Sherwood, who were accompanied by overseas trustees Michael and Marianne De Giorgio and Bracebridge and Landis Young.
The group travelled to Grenada for the annual Donors and Trustees Meeting and to see first-hand the immense progress made over the past year by the organisation.
To date, GND Schools Inc., through the generosity of its donors, have spent some $8.6 million on literacy development at the primary school level. Of that amount, approximately EC$355,000 has been spent to retrofit and equip libraries in four of the six primary schools in St Patrick.
GSI libraries upgrades include new ceilings, windows, lights and fans, comfortable modern furniture and new book collections. St Patrick’s Anglican and RC schools each received over 900 books.
Speaking at the official handing-over ceremony, Principals Wilma Alexander of St Patrick’s Anglican and Rodney Julien of neighbouring St Patrick’s RC School, both expressed sincere thanks to GND Schools Inc. for the gifts of the new libraries. “We salute you for partnering with us to add yet another important amenity to help improve the quality of education that is provided at our school. You have certainly seen the need to improve the literacy competencies among our students,” said Principal Wilma Alexander, St Patrick’s Anglican School.
Present at the library launch ceremonies were government representatives including Minister in the Ministry of Education, Hon. Pamela Moses; District Education Officer, Leolyn Christopher and Parliamentary Representative for St Patrick West, Anthony Boatswain. Also present were GND Schools Inc. local trustees Leo Garbutt and Lyden Ramdhanny.
GND Schools Inc. has opened a total of 25 new public, primary school libraries since the inception of its literacy development project in 2014. The project is part of GND Schools Inc. “B.I.G. Vision” of Building Libraries, Increasing Educational Achievement and Growing Learners.
The organisation has been doing so through funding from its main donors, Michael and Melanie Sherwood and in collaboration with the Government of Grenada, through the Ministry of Education, Human Resource Development and Religious Affairs. GSI has taken a multi-pronged approach to literacy development in primary schools with focus on Library Construction and Renovation; Library Management and Activities Training; Curriculum Support and Training and Book Publishing.
