And today we also spoke to the principal about the other side of the project - the parents whose shoulders are lighter knowing that they don't have to be burdened with finding funds for their child's tuition. She said that it has encouraged more students to come to classes everyday, and they have seen over a dozen more enrollments this new academic year.
Dawn Watters, Principal, Excelsior High School
"With the Upliftment project it provides students who would otherwise be on the street or be at home because their parent don't have the finances to send them to school, it provides them with an opportunity to come to school, so through the Ministry of Education these students will receive free tuition, so for many parents just the burden of finding tuition is a challenge so they'll be coming to school, free tuition, they have access to free uniform, we have a feeding program established at the school that is rolled out to all the students and for many students as well their parents won't send them to school if they don't have money to give them for lunch or if they don't have breakfast in the morning and so it has really helped us a lot. With respect to the wifi, the infrastructure, if you look around the compound, we have been given a facelift, the classrooms have been painted, we have had repairs, we have had plumbing, electrical work being done, when it comes to technology, our wifi has been upgraded, our telephone system, you know so all of these things have been upgraded and it provides a good image, an increased image for the institution and when it comes to us just barely performing, our performance can improve."
"Our enrollment is 109 student, because of the program, we were once at 75, so we have seen an increase in enrollment and we were at a 106 and just this week we have gotten 3 more students so we still have spaces available. Students can still enroll, the goal from first to fourth, the goal is to get them from off the street and get them enrolled in school to gain skills that they can use to earn a living as opposed to just being on the street and engaging in criminal activities."
Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education
"We wish ever school would be full to capacity, that's not yet the case but we have seen an increase in enrollment in these institutions from 2019 to now by over, I'd say almost 200 more students are attending these schools now, collectively, so that's important because that's one of the primary objectives of the project, to increase enrollment, to make sure that young people here in these communities are going to school and are getting a quality education."
