Our Community – Classrooms for Jamaica
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Tropical Sun ‘Classrooms for Jamaica’, Central Village, Jamaica
Having partnered with the same locally owned, independent factory in Central Village, Jamaica for over two decades, we are honoured to support two local schools attended by children of the factory’s staff.
Introduction & White Marl Primary
We’re very proud of our longstanding partnership with Jamaica – and are truly blessed to be able to play a small part in helping White Marl Primary and Jose Marti Technical High School give Jamaica’s next generation a truly valuable education.
White Marl Primary School, which houses 1,300 pupils aged 4-10, was fitted out with cupboards in the guidance council department and a security guard post with toilet facilities, the latter of which was particularly important as it helps to guarantee the safety of the children, whilst also keeping the security guard protected from the radiant Jamaican sun.
The school is run by the enigmatic Mr Brown, a head teacher with seemingly infinite love and compassion, who has even written an inspiring chant called ‘Gem’ that he performs with the pupils to motivate them to be better students and citizens.
Jose Marti Technical High School
Built by the Cuban Government in the 1960s, at the height of Cuba’s tensions with USA, Jose Marti Technical High School’s origins were controversial, not least because the school was visiting by the then Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who gifted the school 4 school buses.
Many years on, with the school now in the hands of the Jamaican Government, it now offers valuable vocational training including auto mechanics, information technology and drafting.
Housing considerably more students than their space is designed to hold, the education of the pupils is a testament to the hard-working teachers and staff at the school, and Tropical Sun is proud to have contributed in a small way through refurbishments to the lecture theatre, junior staff room and junior school classroom, including fixing holes in the roof, reupholstering 180 chairs and installing partitions to block open space atop classroom dividing walls.