Principal, UN official point to link between access to basic needs and academic performance

Principal of the Graydon Sealy Secondary School Shyrelle Howard-Gittens has suggested that children’s access to basic necessities is directly linked to how well they can perform in the classroom.

She made the observation on Monday as she accepted a donation from the United Nations Office for the Eastern Caribbean – ‘dignity boxes’ containing key sanitary products and other items – for 150 girls at the Paddock Road, St Michael school.

Howard-Gittens said the donation would go a long way to assist students whose parents, in some instances, are still recovering economically from the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In some cases, the school’s head said, teachers had been “pulling their own pockets” so that children could stay in school.

“We had some children that were really struggling and we needed to ensure that they had the [structure] that they would need to be able to take the same exams, do the same work, benefit from the same instruction as everybody else,” she explained.

“As a school, we consider ourselves a family and we support each other. So, when there’s a need…to fill, we do so, because if we don’t, our children will fall by the wayside, and we can’t afford for that to happen.”

Education Specialist in the UNICEF Office for the Eastern Caribbean Area Fiaz Shah agreed that existing “pockets of poverty” have been further deepened by the pandemic.

He underscored the importance of children, particularly girls, having “everyday basics” to allow them to participate fully in the school experience.

“That is why these dignity kits, which contain such items as sanitary products, underwear and soap are so useful,” Shah added.

Each of the kits contains toilet paper, soap, sanitary napkins and deodorant, as well as various non-perishable food items.

Dignity boxes are distributed by UN agencies across the Eastern Caribbean to help women and girls maintain good hygiene when faced with difficult social or economic circumstances.

UN Resident Coordinator ad interim for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Tonni Ann Brodber said UN agencies were pleased to support children who are marginalised and vulnerable and lack access to services and resources others enjoy. She added that it was important to take provisions, like dignity boxes, to those who need them.

“In our aspirations to make Barbados and the Caribbean a place where people who are born here want to stay and live here, we need to see our people and meet them where they are,” she said.
(PR/BT)