THE FUNDING ALLOWED FOR CONTINUITY OF EDUCATION DURING SCHOOL CLOSURES CAUSED BY THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

Minister for Education, Hon. Dr. Gale Rigobert recently spoke on distance learning initiatives implemented to help meet educational needs during school closures caused as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Rigobert acknowledged that the educational initiatives would not have been possible without funding partners.

One of the donor organizations, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), collaborated with the Government of Saint Lucia to provide funding for the recording, publication and airing of educational programmes during the closure of school.

“We also received funding from the World Bank, much of which was channeled through the Saint Lucia Social Development Fund (SSDF) for meeting the cost of school supplies and devices targeting parents who were recently displaced,” Dr. Rigobert said. “The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) also provided funding which was channeled through the OECS. The items we were able to procure with that funding included additional devices and recording equipment which we were able to distribute to strategic locations across the island to allow for the recording of classes so that these can be aired later on.” 

Funding from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) was utilized for the procurement of educational devices, while training in the use of these devices was funded by ProFuturo.

“We have ongoing the ProFuturo program which has a training component that schools them in the use of those devices,” Dr. Rigobert explained. “We continued with the Commonwealth of Learning Programme to ensure that more teachers received the requisite training so that they can navigate the devices with much greater ease. I wish to indicate too that through the Education Quality Improvement Project (EQUIP) and with additional funding from the Government of China (Taiwan) we were able to procure some additional devices and facilitate training.”

The minister reminded of the launch of the Digital Institute at the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College. The Digital Institute aims to provide training for teachers so that they are comfortable with the use of digital devices and digital platforms used for learning and teaching.