Students attending Titchfield High School, Port Antonio, Portland, are the benefactors of a ventilation system, which will assist in keeping their classrooms cool and improve their learning environment.

The system was donated by the Titchfield High School parent-teacher association, in concert with Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) Foundation.

"Some 300 students in grades seven to nine were severely affected by the heat. And, as a result of the intensity, many students had respiratory illnesses, such as asthma, which had a negative effect on their learning and attendance," Nadine Simpson-McLean, vice-president of the PTA said.

receptive

She explained that the association approached JNBS about the project, and the organisation was receptive. The project was accommodated through the JNBS Member Advisory Council (MAC) programme. During the summer holidays, the ventilation system was installed in 16 classrooms, which accommodate the grades 7-9 students.

"Already, students and teachers are feeling the results of the recently installed system. There are fewer reports of students falling ill while in class, and they are more focused," Simpson-McLean said.

"I think it was very good of JNBS to come on board."

Edison Taylor, business relation-ship and sale advisor, Port Antonio and Morant Bay JNBS branches, said the society was happy to partner with the Titchfield High School PTA to implement the project. He explained that MACs operate at all of the society's branches and JN MoneyShops across the island.

pleased

"I am extremely pleased to be a part of this project," the Titchfield High School old boy pointed out.

"Some of my colleagues and I are products of this noble institution; and we are pleased about this infrastructural intervention, which will certainly enhance the teaching and learning context at the school."

Simpson-McLean said it was her hope that, as a result of the installation of the ventilation system, the students' grade-point average would increase by at least five per cent and, most of all, that there would be a reduction in absenteeism among the grades 7-9 student population.

"Teachers will be able to conduct more student-oriented activities during the teaching and learning processes and there will certainly be less disruption during classes, due to the heat," she added.

'We are pleased about this infrastructural intervention, which will certainly enhance the teaching and learning context at the school.'