Education Committee

 The Women's Leadership Initiative (WLI) is very active in Early Childhood Education. When WLI decided to use its philanthropic efforts to address education and the upliftment of women, it specifically selected VOUCH, Voluntary Organization for the Upliftment of Children, for close attention. The Education Subcommittee directed its efforts towards the Sylvia Foote Basic School and the Mary Issa Infant School which are both housed and administered by VOUCH.
    The objective was to enable these facilities to better serve the academic and social needs of the young children and their parents living in the surrounding Fletcher’s Land and Allman Town communities.
  The goals are:
  • To provide guidance and assistance in the delivery of quality education including special education for children attending the nursery, pre-school and the basic school at Vouch.
  • To assist where possible with the establishment of a Screening, Assessment and Very Early Remedial programme (SAVER) at Vouch.
 
  Sylvia Foote Basic School and Mary Issa Infant School
  The Sylvia Foote Basic and the Mary Issa Infant School serve residents in adjoining communities, as well as employees of businesses in the neighbourhood. The WLI supports the activities of the group by financing infrastructural improvements, curriculum enhancement, a programme catering to children with special challenges and staff development opportunities. The activities and the group is well underway in terms of achieving its goals in this sector.
  • The principal, who holds a first degree, leads the team of teachers, comprising of a special education teacher and twelve other academic staff members.
  • The facilities were renovated and upgraded by the WLI. Several millions in cash and kind has been injected into these facilities to carry out infrastructural work, enhance the learning environment, and aid teacher training and certification.
  • Following the onslaught of hurricanes Dean and Gustav, the group also sourced the necessary funding to carry out repair work at the basic school, as well as the nursery and the clinic.
  • The WLI provided salary support for a Special Education teacher, in order to adequately care for a small group of special need students, until it was successfully incorporated into the Ministry of Education. The school remains the only Basic School with a degreed Special Education teacher.
  • A proposal was submitted to the Ministry of Education and approval received to establish a Screening, Assessment and Early Remedial Programme on the VOUCH complex. The Programme, partially funded by WLI, became operational in October 2014.