ARCS
Alumni of Rio Claro Central School- Donate
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- 9159449499
Yet another milestone reached for the ARCS – Charity family as on Wednesday 6th October 2021, 60 Samsung tablet devices (devices) were handed over to the Rio Claro East Secondary School for use by students who were in need. As a reminder, ARCS is an association for alumni of the Rio Claro Central School also known as Rio Claro Government Secondary School. This initiative is driven by former students from the 1972 to 1977 set, but not exclusive to this group.
The group is new, not yet one year old, and represents a diverse and talented resource base with a common goal of social responsibility. In this vein and coming fast on the heels of a distribution of 130 food hampers to over 200 individuals in and around Rio Claro and the surrounding districts and village, we were able to obtain the devices and donate them to enable students to have access to their educational opportunities.
Three alumni were present in person - Indarsane Ramdial, Anand Ramsaroop and Nadra Nathai-Gyan- to represent the larger group given the need for adherence to COVID-19 guidelines and were joined by others on the Zoom platform to share in this momentous occasion. At the handover, the Principal Mr. Zarilal Guyadeen expressed his delight and gratitude for this donation. Three of the recipients were also present and were able to receive the ready-to-use devices. Dr. Anslim Narinesingh, our UK-based alumni who was instrumental in obtaining the devices spoke on our behalf delivering a strong message.
Anslim seized the opportunity to congratulate our group on launching this outstanding campaign in which there is a mutual shared responsibility amongst all for giving back to the areas that supported our education almost five decades ago, paving the way for the human beings we have all become and the part we play in our communities, society, nationally and trans-nationally. He referenced the observations made by both The World Bank and the CAF Development Bank of Latin America on the educational crisis brought on by the pandemic to demonstrate the impact of this donation to the school. With a shift to online education, measures to address the existing inequalities in relation to access and use of information and communication technologies are in dire need. While 60 devices will go a long way, the school is still in need of more and we encourage others to come forward.
Also forming part of the programme, the opportunity was taken to promote the iCARE programme of the Environmental Management Authority and reusable bags and water bottles were provided for the 60 students. Nadra spoke briefly on the hierarchy of waste management and the need to build an environmentally conscious society to secure our future well-being.
In closing, Anslim reiterated that although small in the ocean of needs we hope the donation will have mutual benefits to support both the schools’ educational initiatives and strategies and students’ personal education.
Qualifying criteria for help
Our current initiative is a hardship help scheme where individuals who as a result of their circumstance is finding it particularly hard to meet basic needs during the current COVID pandemic restrictions. The group has a defined set of criteria which would qualify for help. These include:
1. A situation that causes difficult or unpleasant conditions of life such as:
2. Consideration will be given to certain conditions that are more likely to cause hardship such as:
3. A maximum amount is set for each situation.
Checklist/assessment
✅ Description of the hardship case.
✅ Basic verification.
✅ Authorisation of assistance.
