THROUGH the kindness of overseas-based Guyanese, 40 electronic tablets, were, on Friday, handed over to the Winfer Gardens Primary School by the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) for pupils who are having difficulties accessing online classes owing to the absence of a device.

This donation follows a similar one made last month to two Grade Six pupils. Those pupils up to that point were unable to access their online classes.
On Friday, 20 of the tablets were donated for the pupils of Grades Three, Four, Five and Six, while another 20 will be donated next Friday for those in Grades One and Two.
The parents and pupils who were present at the simple ceremony, expressed gratitude to the school and the PTA for the donation.
“I feel so happy because he really needed a tablet to do his school work. He depends on his cousin’s phone and it was very, very hard for him and it throw him back a lot,” commented Lucy Moore whose nephew, 10-year-old Lamani Stewart received one of the tablets.

A Grade Six pupil, Stewart is at a critical juncture as he is preparing to write the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) later this year. Moore highlighted that the family is very grateful that he is now better positioned to attend classes.
“We are all just so grateful for this,” Moore expressed.

Schools in Guyana have been closed physically since March 2020 due to measures implemented to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Learners were officially re-engaged in September 2020 virtually. A multi-faceted blended method was used.
For the virtual classes, learners are required to have electronic devices, and internet. Learners lacking these facilities are at a disadvantage.
Headteacher Deryn Moore-Heyliger, noted that since the closure of school and the subsequent virtual engagements with learners, the school observed that approximately 40 pupils were not able to access classes regularly.

She said she was later approached by some parents who informed her of the difficulties they were facing.
“They weren’t online due to lack of internet and gadgets, so that’s how we ventured out to have this donation done,” Moore-Heyligar explained.
Meanwhile, executive member of the PTA, Edwin Seeraj, said that being cognizant of the dilemma the students were facing, a decision was made to help as best they could. Resources were pooled and the first two tablets were bought in January.

Members of the PTA reached out to other corporate businesses, NGOs and other individuals for assistance in garnering more tablets. Seeraj approached some of his family members and got favourable responses.

“The response was overwhelming. Sam and Edna Murugan of Florida signalled their intention to assist immediately and solicited the assistance of their local church. They contacted a close friend, Darryl Summers, who also readily agreed to be part of the deal. Mr Summers made a sizeable monetary donation to the cause,” Seeraj explained.

Seeraj said he hopes that this gesture of kindness will create a domino effect and inspire others to do similar acts, not only at Winfer Gardens but at other schools across the country.
“We feel very nice to be able to do this, but we didn’t do this for a show. We are doing this because we’re hoping to be motivators so that others can see this and be motivated to also do something kind for others. It is a PTA effort,” Seeraj stated.