GIFF JOHNSON
The Public School System and Delap Elementary School in particular celebrated the opening last week of the first learning resource center for teachers and students.
It was officially opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony that included the presence of Asian Development Bank Vice-President for East and Southeast Asia, and the Pacific
Scott Morris.
The project comes under the PSS Improving the Quality of Basic Education project, which ADB is funding.
PSS Commissioner Dr. Natalie Nimmer said the learning resource center has been 10 years in planning and development. At the ceremony, she pointed out that in education, it can take years to see results. So how a new facility like this impacts the abilities of young students may not be seen for five years or more, she said.
A classroom at DES was refurbished and reconfigured as a learning resource center/mini-library. It includes a reading corner with a carpet and books spread out to encourage reading.
Fifth grade DES students who joined the program were clearly interested in the new center and enjoyed looking through some of the books.
“This center was developed primarily as a national resource center for PSS teachers nationwide to access and/or borrow hard cover materials and e-books,” said Matthew Di Loreto, who is the project manager for the Improving the Quality of Basic Education project. “Other project schools have mini-libraries or reading corners which will also be populated with sets of books that were purchased (through the IQBE project).”