Black River Primary Gets Computer Lab and Resource Centre

A computer laboratory and resource centre, constructed at a cost of more than $12 million, was opened on Thursday (Oct.1) at the Black River Primary and Infant School in St. Elizabeth.
The facility, which boosts computer equipment and software to assist learning, is named for educators and husband and wife Albert and Carmen Reynolds, who served as principal of the institution on separate occasions.
Minister of Education, Hon. Andrew Holness, in his address at the opening ceremony, said the Ministry is committed to providing schools with technology to enhance the teaching and learning process.
“What we plan to do with labs like these is turn them into enrichment centres, so as to realise 100 per cent literacy in the education system,” he stated.
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, and Member of Parliament for South West St. Elizabeth, Hon. Dr. Christopher Tufton, who was instrumental in getting the project off the ground, said that the facility will benefit the student body and the wider community.
“This addition represents true development of an entire community. My only wish is to ensure that the facility is used for the purpose for which it was built,” he said, while urging the school administration “to preserve this asset and use it to empower the community.”
Meanwhile, Chairman of the school board, Locksley White, noted that the computer laboratory and resource centre is a major achievement in the school’s history.
“This milestone of achievement in the history of Black River Primary and Infant School is well appreciated by the principal and her staff as a teaching tool, as they try to train and prepare our students not only to pass the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) and go on to high school, but to continue to tertiary institutions and to pursue their career path,” he stated.
Major contributors to the project were the Ministry of Education, the Canadian Embassy, National Commercial Bank Foundation, and businessman Tony Hart.