The Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Teacher Training (CCETT) in Jamaica on Tuesday donated a listening centre, a Diagnostic Test of Essential Reading and Writing Skills kit to the University of Guyana (UG) library to boost its literacy programme for children in the surrounding communities.
In a press release UG said CCETT also handed over G Joel Warrican, with Joan Spencer-Ernandez’s Strategies for the Teaching of Reading and Writing: A practical guide for teachers of Caribbean children to the Turkeyen Campus. The donation will be housed in the Reading is Fun Resource Room at the library and will be used in the annual August vacation Reading is Fun Programme.
CCETT Director Professor Stafford Griffith, who made the donation, said that the Centre is pleased to be associated with the Programme. He said CCETT “helps students from grades one to three improve their reading skills at an early age so that they will be able to read to learn at a latter stage.” Griffith also said the Centre provides support at other levels hence its involvement in the Library’s initiative to help Grade Six students attain acceptable standards in reading.
Deputy Vice Chancellor Tota Mangar thanked Griffith for the donation saying it “will enhance the learning environment in the resource room.” UG said too that Claudith Thompson, a former lecturer in Literary Studies in the School of Education and Humanities and a resource person for the reading programme and CCETT Regional Programme Coordinator Delroy Alleyne were instrumental in obtaining the donation.
According to the release the Programme was the brainchild of former UG Librarian Yvonne Lancaster who was concerned about the low level of literacy among young people. Acting Librarian at the institution Hetty London said that it has since evolved to additional reading sessions held on Saturdays.
