Manchester All-Age School Benefit from Literacy Programme

The Diaspora organisation Read Across Jamaica Foundation, has extended its literacy programme to the Auchtembedie All-age in Manchester, on Monday (Jan. 19) donating reading material and a computer to the institution.
The Foundation, which was founded in 2004 by a group of Jamaicans residing in Maryland in the United States, is aimed at strengthening reading among primary and all-age school children in Jamaica.
Over the years, the organisation has provided literacy support to five schools in St. Elizabeth; three in Clarendon; four in Manchester; one in Trelawny; and the St. James Parish Library.
Executive Director of the Foundation, Janice Wisdom, said that Auchtembedie All-age, will be on the programme for three years, and over that period “we will help them to sustain and build literacy.”
She informed that books and funds for the programme are raised in the United States, and local volunteers visit schools to read for children.
Principal of Auchtembedie All-age, Stevie Williams, expressed gratitude for the assistance. “When we see people, who are willing to contribute to their country’s development without thinking of personal gain, we must be thankful. I firmly believe that giving a child a book is a dose against illiteracy, and as educators, we are aware of the critical role that the school system must play in the fight against violence and ignorance in the society,” he stated.