Devastated by Category 5 Hurricane Maria in 2017, most of the 59 primary schools on the island Commonwealth of Dominica were severely damaged or collapsed and the computers and books in the schools were destroyed. Restoring Learning Technologies is an initiative from the IT for Dominica Foundation out of Alberta, Canada to mitigate some of these losses. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of Rotary clubs located in Canada and Dominica along with the IT for Dominica Foundation, the gap in providing learning resources and information technology (IT) support for students in 30 primary schools is about to be met.
A recently approved global grant application (GG 2010318) submitted by the Rotary Club of Lethbridge East of District 5360, located in Alberta, Canada, together with the Rotary Club of Portsmouth in Dominica, will directly benefit primary schools in Dominica through the provision of a Vocational Training Team (VTT). This grant was realized through The Rotary Foundation, the Rotary Foundation Canada and IT for Dominica Foundation and valued at of over US$140K.
This project will supply IT resources including Chromebooks and technology training and resources to 30 primary schools in Dominica. Additionally, members of the technical staff of the Ministry of Education and teachers in schools will also receive training in maintenance and installation of hardware and systems, as well as, in using IT tools in the classroom for delivery of curriculum. A small team of experienced teachers and vocational experts from Alberta, Canada will conduct this training as similar systems have been used in classrooms there for several years.
This undertaking follows the successful implementation of a previous global grant (GG1987039) in 2019 that equipped 20+ schools in Dominica with over 1700 computers, projectors, screens, wireless capabilities and internet connections valued at over US$1.1M. The second phase of the project will be implemented in 2020-2021 and build on efforts to provide wireless access at all primary schools in Dominica and to implement the use of digital projectors and Chromebooks in every classroom.
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