A year after they first piloted the project at Kolbe Foundation, the Rotary Club is expanding their work to enhance basic education and literacy in schools. RACHEL which stands for (Remote Area Community Hotspot for Education and Learning) has now made its way to Rural schools where students will be able to take advantage of its features and digital content without the need for WIFI. Jomarie Lanza found out more about it today:
When we first heard about RACHEL, it was a learning program implemented at the Belize Central Prison as a literacy tool. The pilot project received such positive feedback from the institution, that it has has successfully been deployed in a number of schools in rural areas with little to no access to the internet.
The Rotary president gave told us how they managed to expand to 11 schools.
Katherine Meighan, President, Rotary club of Belize
"It's a cool name right? Rachel it definitely has your head turning. So Rachel is a really, it's a combination of literacy, education and technology in essence. The Rachel is actually a little device and it's like a hotspot so it's a device that you can do it up curriculum you can load up applications. You can load up any sort of programs that can add to the curriculum or add to the educational experience of a school. Principles, teachers and students the opportunity to have access to these devices and it's amazing. Rachel program is actually a nonprofit organization so they continually update the programs and the applications that they have access to. I'll give you a good example. There are programs that allow you to learn how to build a robot a. There are programs that allow to be able to learn code so it's not necessarily only math and English or literature. It is very wide reaching and what we are hoping to do with these programs is to give schools and schools that may not have consistent Internet access. we are in the city to some extent we might have a live in rural areas in particular there is a landline and a connection that will connect for instant that principal or connect a small number of computers but in this case that Rachel device can be loaded up over the Internet and then it all allows for 50 young kids on Chromebooks on Tablets on computers to then get access to whatever is available on that device and it is controlled, it can be led with curriculum so it is a tool for education and literacy, etc."
The project is valued at 210 thousand dollars, and functions without the internet. Rotary club member Glen Brown says that it was the Rotary club which first took note of the potential the programme had to change lives within the education system in Belize.
Glen Brown, Rotary Club Member, Port Moody
"So the idea for Rachel actually originated in Belize with the Rotary club of Belize and they were looking around at different needs to support educational literacy in Belize including Prison where inmates obviously don't Internet access and the nature of the Belize Rachel device is that it is an off-line Internet server So it brings a wealth of Internet content and educational programming onto a server that can be accessed locally by any Wi-Fi device, but doesn't have contact with the Internet. It also works well in schools that don't have Internet access or have limited access to the Internet or other technologies in the classroom it helps to support that. And so it was Rotarians in Belize that saw that this had an application here in Belize."
Two of the principals at the schools where RACHEL is in full operation told us more about how this tool ties into the new competency based curriculum being implemented by the Ministry of Education
Janine St Bernard, Principal, Lucky Strike Government School
"There were 11 selected schools through collaboration with the ministry of education on the rotary club of Belize. We were one of the schools that were selected to do this training."
"I strongly, believe I am confident that the training the program that they are introducing in this training will benefit our teachers and our students on a great level to enhance learning within the classroom. The good thing about the program is that we are a school and Roel schools don't have Internet access and with this program, we are not required to have Internet access so with the program itself, it has a lot of resources that teachers can use in various subject areas. and one of the things I like about it is that tat to the knees of all levels of students from babies up to high school."
Ardeth McFadzean Kelly, Principal, Belize Rural Primary School
"Well we were invited by Mr Woods from Belize rotary to be a part of this training for two days which entails the Rachel program. Rachel is a program that consists of a wide variety of resources that compact with a website that does not need the Internet so these students and teachers can access this information without the use of Internet, but the good thing about this program is that it coincides with what the new curriculum that we are using is pushing for. So for example problem based learning whereby students can go on Rachel and access these materials on their own. it allows them to explore and come up with ideas on their own using the guidance of the teachers."
The 11 schools set to begin using RACHEL are Lucky Strike Government Primary Bz Rural, St. Agnes Anglican Primary Bz Rural, Crooked Tree Government Primary School Bz Rural, Unity Presbyterian Bz City, Salvation Army Bz City, St. Luke Primary Bz City, St. Ignatius Bz City, St. John Anglican Bz City, and Stella Maris School Bz City.
