RGD Launches Outreach Prorgamme at Negril All Age

Approximately 4,000 children have been registered and proper documentation processed for their birth certificates, under the Registrar General Department’s (Grade Six Achievement Test) GSAT initiative.
The GSAT initiative is a one-month programme through which officers from the RGD targeted and visited schools across the island during the month of May, to properly register students who have recently sat or will sit the examination.
According to Communications Officer for the RGD, Nichole Robinson, the programme was a success, surpassing expectations. Some 14 schools were visited across the island under the programme.
“In the 14 schools that we have gone to we have also shared with members of the community. they have learnt the steps and now realize how easy it is for them to access the services of the RGD,” she said.
She made the comments during an interview with JIS News at the RGD’s final leg of the programme at the Negril All Age School, in Westmoreland, recently. Miss Robinson pointed out that the RGD had a number of outreach programmes, and said that with the evident success of the GSAT initiative the Department would be continuing with its programmes and would also contemplate continuing the GSAT initiative.
She said the RGD was also willing to go into any community within which there was a particular challenge, and appealed to community organizations and institutions to extend an invitation to the RGD to visit their community.
“What we do is come in at no extra cost to you, we provide our own security, we provide our own tables and even our own tents. We set up and start working from about 10:00 o’clock to about 3:30 p.m. just to get the necessary applications in as well as share information,” she explained.
Pointing out that the RGD carried out more than 900 outreach initiatives on an annual basis, the Communications Officer mentioned that the RGD would be embarking on a programme leading up to Father’s Day. Through this programme, fathers will be encouraged to add their particulars to their children’s birth certificates. Miss Robinson noted that more details would be revealed about the programme in the near future.
Meanwhile, Principal of the Negril All Age School, Beverly Wedderburn, lauded the RGD’s GSAT initiative as an excellent outreach programme.