RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

With the im­pend­ing clo­sure of all schools un­til the end of the year due to the re­cent spike in COVID-19 cas­es, the As­ja Girls’ Alum­ni As­so­ci­a­tion is work­ing to en­sure that all stu­dents are equipped with an elec­tron­ic de­vice be­fore the new term starts.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, alum­ni pres­i­dent Nadeira Khan said with the clo­sure of schools for the next few months, they have been work­ing in col­lab­o­ra­tion with prin­ci­pal Yas­min Ra­haman-Singh, mem­bers of staff and stu­dents to as­sist those stu­dents and their fam­i­lies who are in need of ba­sic ne­ces­si­ties such as food and aca­d­e­m­ic ma­te­r­i­al.

“In the in­ter­im, we are giv­ing phys­i­cal and fi­nan­cial as­sis­tance up­on re­quest. Many of us have been as­sist­ing pri­vate­ly for the past few months. While our bank ac­count bears a min­i­mal bal­ance, we will so­lic­it as­sis­tance from oth­er in­di­vid­u­als and com­pa­nies if nec­es­sary, to pro­vide for our younger sis­ters,” Khan said.

She not­ed that ex­er­cis­es were car­ried out over the last few months by the prin­ci­pal and staff to as­sist the school in pro­vid­ing the nec­es­sary elec­tron­ic de­vices need­ed to com­plete the school cur­ricu­lum and to en­sure that no stu­dent was left be­hind. 

“De­vices were do­nat­ed by dif­fer­ent com­pa­nies and in­di­vid­u­als. It is the in­ten­tion of the alum­ni to con­tin­ue to work with the col­lege in pro­vid­ing and do­nat­ing what­ev­er stu­dents may re­quire in the near fu­ture,” Khan said. 

“If this means by so­lic­it­ing do­na­tions or hav­ing curb­side pick-up fund-rais­ers, then so be it. Thus far, the ma­jor­i­ty of stu­dents are able to con­nect on­line, but not all of them, un­for­tu­nate­ly.”

On Sat­ur­day, both T&T Uni­fied Teach­ers’ As­so­ci­a­tion pres­i­dent An­to­nia De Fre­itas and Na­tion­al Pri­ma­ry Schools’ Prin­ci­pal As­so­ci­a­tion prin­ci­pal Lance Mot­t­ley al­so called on cor­po­rate T&T to come on board to en­sure that all stu­dents are equipped with de­vices for the new term.

Khan not­ed that the teach­ing method has changed since the pan­dem­ic start­ed, forc­ing all teach­ers to re-ed­u­cate them­selves in a new method of teach­ing and learn­ing.  

“It has been a ‘wake-up call’ for every­one and our teach­ers have been work­ing very in­dus­tri­ous­ly with our stu­dents. As chal­leng­ing as it is, all teach­ers at the AS­JA Girls’ Col­lege San Fer­nan­do have gone above and be­yond the call of du­ty as al­ways, to en­sure that every stu­dent is in­clud­ed,” she said.

Khan not­ed it has al­so been dif­fi­cult for peo­ple to join the alum­ni or re­new their mem­ber­ship due to the strain on the econ­o­my and their pock­ets due to COVID. 

“It is dif­fi­cult to as­sist the en­tire stu­dent pop­u­la­tion of the is­land be­cause not every house­hold can af­ford lap­tops, iPads, in­ter­net or even ba­sic ne­ces­si­ties. Be­lieve it or not, there is much pover­ty in our re­pub­lic. Non-gov­ern­men­tal or­gan­i­sa­tions need to come to­geth­er, do the field­work and work to­geth­er to as­sist the schools and fam­i­lies wher­ev­er nec­es­sary,” she said.

Khan, who al­so heads the char­i­ta­ble ASH-NAD Foun­da­tion along with her hus­band, said many times fi­nan­cial con­tri­bu­tions the Gov­ern­ment makes do not reach those who re­al­ly need it. 

“This is why we will work with our al­ma mater in as­sist­ing those in need and han­dle with the ut­most pri­va­cy and care,” Khan added. 

Any­one want­i­ng to join the alum­ni can con­tact Khan at 683-1501 or send an email to as­ja­girl­salum­n­isf@gmail.com.