KINGSTON, Jamaica – Primary schools are to benefit from 125 Epson printers donated by the Usain Bolt Foundation to assist in the provision of worksheets and prints from textbooks to students.
The Foundation is involved in a two-year partnership with Epson and during that time, it is expected that a total of 225 printers will be supplied to schools across the island.
During a handover ceremony on Tuesday, New Providence Primary in Kingston received a printer as well as five reams of paper from the batch.
In her address, Minister of Education and Youth, Fayval Williams, lauded the donation as one that supports an agreement already established with the ministry and Copyright Foundation of Jamaica.
“We actually pay $20 million annually to enable us to copy a certain percentage of textbooks and workbooks in schools. Additionally, I know that all our schools have an administrative office, so this is a useful resource for our schools,” she said.
The ministry’s regional offices will oversee the distribution of the printers to schools across the island.
Meanwhile, Jamaica’s sprint legend and head of the foundation, Usain Bolt, said he remains committed to providing a helping hand as much as possible.
“This is so important to me. Throughout the years, I’ve been through the struggles [and] I understand the need for these things to help education,” he said.
Bolt added that discussions are still under way to extend the partnership with Epson to supply additional schools with printers and projectors.
“As you know, the Foundation is geared towards early-childhood education, so this is a big help,” he said.
Principal of New Providence Primary, Olga Robinson Clarke, said the donation is timely in light of the start of the new academic year.
“We are really grateful because we do a lot of printing here for the children who do not have the required texts, so it really is a big benefit to us,” she said
Meanwhile, Head of Public Relations and Communications at Epson (Europe), Mary McNulty, said the focus on supporting education will remain a core value at Epson.
“Epson shares Usain’s vision of making education accessible to all, and we hope that with this donation of printers it will help the boys and girls of Jamaica have a wonderful education and fulfil their potential,” she said.