Sagicor steps in to help students

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The continued impact of COVID-19 on the ability of Barbados’ children to access and receive education, has resulted in several initiatives by schools and other organisations to obtain computer equipment to assist with efforts to improve the effectiveness of remote/virtual learning.

Following the rollout of several COVID-19 response and relief programmes in 2020, Sagicor continues to answer the call for assistance with overcoming the challenges created by this unprecedented pandemic.

The leading insurance and financial institution recently donated computer systems to the Industrial Technology Department of Queen’s College, the Optimist Club and the Unborn Justice organisation.

Five laptops were donated to Queen’s College to assist 45 students between 3rd and 5th form, with access to the AutoCAD computer programme that is critical to the pursuit of studies fundamental to the disciplines of architecture and engineering.

The same number of systems were donated to the Optimist Club of Barbados Central, to aid in their programme to equip disadvantaged students of the St. Stephen’s Primary, Sharon Primary and The Lodge School, with the necessary tools to participate in and benefit from remotevirtual learning.

Also receiving a laptop donation was Unborn Justice, a charitable organisation founded out of a passion to see every unborn child given a chance to live.

As part of their efforts, the group formed a Pregnancy Help Center aimed at providing emotional and tangible support to men and women faced with crisis pregnancies.

Through the Pregnancy Help Center, Unborn Justice has supported over fifty mothers, fathers and their families, by providing baby supplies, food items, counselling and other programmes, such as Computer Literacy among other skills.

Speaking on the donations, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Sagicor Life Inc, Paul Inniss, described them as a continuation of the company’s efforts to support the youth and community at large, by equipping them with the skills to build a future for themselves.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on how we currently live our lives, however, there are areas being impacted today that will have a lasting impact on our future.

“Education is one such area. Therefore, we saw it as our duty to provide as much assistance as we can to help facilitate the continued education of our youth and the most vulnerable in our community”, he said.

“I’d like to thank our IT department, who volunteered their expertise to help prepare the donated laptops for use by the various recipients.

“We will continue to work with our educators and charitable organisations wherever possible, to facilitate increased access to online resources and technology.” (PR)