School Celebrate Adoption with Grand Ceremony

ROADTOWN Tortola BVI, July 12th, 2011 - The ceremony which was organised by the Adopt-A-School Committee headed by Enis Adams’ Primary School Principal Mrs. Carleen Parsons was held to culminate a busy year of adoptions for the programme. A total of 17 public primary schools have been adopted by parent organisations or in part by partner organisations.

– Falling rain could not dampen the spirits of hundreds of students representing 16 of the Territory’s public primary schools as they performed for parent and partner organisations of the Virgin Islands public school system’s Adopt-A-School Programme at a grand ceremony held last week.

n her remarks Mrs. Parsons thanked her hard working committee and thanked the businesses who have made the commitment to the Territory’s schools.

Her sentiments were echoed by Minster of Education and Culture, Honourable Andrew Fahie who further reminded the audience that he had long been a believer that businesses, local and foreign, had a responsibility to be good corporate citizens.

“I always said that the business community should be able to assist the schools and students in this way, he said, lauding, “I know they were willing, but we had to put something in place to make sure the funds were being channeled properly and that they were not just used for anything.”

The principals’ response was given by Mrs. Erma Vanterpool, Principal of the Claudia Creque Educational Centre which was recently adopted by First Bank. She expressed her joy and appreciation at the adoptions on behalf of all schools.

Mrs. Susanna Hennigan-Potter of Harneys gave the response on behalf of the adopting organisations and spoke about the close relationship Harneys has created with its adopted school the Francis Lettsome Primary School. Harneys partnered with the school before the official Adopt-A School Programme was launched and has given some $40, 000 to the school thus far.

“It is said that it is better to give than to receive, and in my experience that certainly applies in this case. At Harneys we encourage our staff to get involved in school activities: we read during Reading Is Fun Week, make presentations during Career Week, and volunteer at the annual school sports day,” she informed.

Minister Fahie presented certificates of adoption to the parent and partner organisations. Entertainment was provided by students from the various primary schools. Students from as far as the Claudia Creque Educational Centre on Anegada and the Bregado Flax Educational Centre on Virgin Gorda along with several schools on Tortola delivered poems, rendered songs, played fungi music and danced for a full audience of teachers, students, business owners and business representatives.

The Programme was chaired by Principal Hilroy George of the Bregado Flax Educational Centre Pimary Division. Several schools had been adopted previously prior to the programme´s introduction, but the official programme which is an initiative under the Ministry of Education and Culture seeks to provide accountability and transparency on the use of donor funds. 

 Adopt-A-School Programme was launched by the Ministry in October, 2007. The purpose of the Adopt-A-School Programme is to provide a necessary link between schools and donor organisations, to educate and ensure that each school environment is conducive to a dynamic learning experience.

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