The Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) presented Guy’s Hill High School, Ensom City Primary School and Eltham Park Primary School with a total of 95 Samsung tablets at a Handover Ceremony which was held at the JADCO office located at 1 Ballater Avenue in Kingston on Wednesday, January 6, 2021.
Guy’s Hill High School was presented with 25 Samsung tablets for having the most participants online at the seventh annual Junior Athletes Anti-Doping Education Workshop for region one. The 2020 series of workshops were held virtually for the first time due to the impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Region one includes secondary schools from Kingston and St. Andrew, St. Thomas and St. Catherine. The workshops were held via Zoom for four regions across the island during the month of November.
The Honourable Olivia Grange, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport said, “The donation of Samsung tablets is part of a broader initiative that JADCO is now executing in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information as part of the public education and awareness thrust of the Commission; and so JADCO will be introducing anti-doping as part of the primary school curriculum. Today it starts with two primary schools, Eltham Park Primary and Ensom City Primary.”
Also speaking at the event, Chairman of JADCO, Alexander Williams said, “The Commission preloaded anti-doping information to the devices because we believe that if athletes are armed with the requisite information pertaining to anti-doping from the primary and secondary school levels they will be well equipped to make informed decisions when they become senior and professional athletes.”
Speaking at the handover ceremony, Principal of Guy’s Hill High School, Joan Davis said, “We have many students at our school without a device and to get 25 Samsung tablets this afternoon will help us to bridge the gap that exists, so we are very grateful.”
Student athlete, Guy’s Hill High School, Shayanique Neil expressed her gratitude, “This event was inspiring, to see JADCO giving and helping others in this pandemic, which is a challenging time for students all over Jamaica, especially the ones who are in need of the devices to access online school. I would like to show gratitude and appreciation from my school to JADCO, we are grateful.”
To aid in the facilitation of online learning and to promote anti-doping in schools, the Commission also presented Ensom City Primary and Eltham Park Primary Schools with 35 Samsung devices each as part of its outreach activities.
Acting Principal of Ensom City Primary School, Karlene Collins-Dawkins said, “This gesture is really overwhelming for me, because I recognize that I have some students who we have not been connecting with, so I am happy that at least 35 of them will now be able to connect and be in the main stream of things, so thanks again JADCO.”
Principal of Eltham Park Primary School, Conroy Griffiths said, “Receiving these 35 Samsung tablets will benefit our school tremendously as we will have 35 less students that are not being engaged meaningfully and this will go a far way in helping us.”
In the upcoming weeks, 75 Samsung tablets will be presented to schools from the remaining regions, which includes region two, with schools from Clarendon, Manchester and St. Elizabeth, region three with schools from Westmoreland, Hanover, St. James and sections of Trelawny and region four, which includes schools from St. Ann, St. Mary, Portland and sections of Trelawny.
Over 300 junior athletes and their support personnel from four regions across the island attended the virtual series of the 2020 Junior Athletes Anti-Doping Education Workshops.
JADCO hosted the inaugural Junior Athletes Anti-Doping Education Workshop for athletes and athlete support personnel at the Jamaica Conference Centre (JCC) on Wednesday, February 12, 2014. This workshop has been held annually since 2014.
