Lorna Golding - Colin Hamilton/Freelance Photographer

Jamaica's basic schools seem poised to get some well needed financial and other assistance. Lorna Golding, wife of Prime Minister Bruce Golding, has joined forces with wives of other Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Members of Parliament and established the Early Childhood Development Foundation. And already, positive responses have been flooding in from Jamaicans and other concerned persons at home and in the diaspora. To date, they have received two cheques for US$30,000.00 and CND$20,000.00.

The vision of the foundation is to make a positive change in the physical, spiritual, mental and cultural lives of basic school children so that they will become responsible citizens who are environmentally aware and equipped to function in the global world.

Support

Mrs. Golding told Flair that she would love to see all like-minded Jamaicans and corporate entities coming forward with support. The wives will identify one basic school in their spouses' constituencies that they will adopt, but they will have overall responsibility to organise events and raise funds to assist all such schools to become first-rate institutions.

"I would love to see that all the children in these schools get the same kind of exposure and opportunities that my children had; they need the chance to achieve their true potential," Mrs. Golding said. She further stressed that it had long been established that children learn best from zero to seven years and if the group of women achieve some degree of progress in the effort, she would feel gratified in endorsing it.

The group has been meeting and has decided to make a practical approach from the outset. "We will be forming strategic partnerships to target some of the immediate needs, such as assisting basic schools to become registered, then we will look at what they need to function satisfactorily," Mrs. Golding said.