60 students get tablets for tTech Limited 15th anniversary celebrations
Sixty students received tablets valuing $1 million as part of celebrations for local IT services provider tTech Limited’s 15th anniversary.
The students were presented with the tablets during a handover ceremony on Wednesday, December 1. This initiative is the first activity in tTech’s anniversary celebrations.
The 60 tablets were earmarked for students from primary to high school level hailing from 15 different schools across the parishes of Kingston, St Catherine and Westmoreland. They were distributed during the ceremony to the Kingston and St Catherine-based students, who were identified by the charity organisation, House of SDM.
Central to tTech’s decision to embark on this initiative was their recognition that access to technology for schooling was still a pressing issue for local students.
The company, according to tTech’s Marketing Manager, Gillian Murray, decided to forego any celebratory events for their 15th anniversary and instead channel those funds to provide tablets as a necessary resource to students whose education has been negatively impacted by the pandemic.
“tTech has always, and especially throughout the pandemic, supported initiatives that cater to youth and education, so it was important for us to channel our efforts into giving back to our community in this way and effect change in how children learn — so 15 schools were chosen to celebrate our 15th anniversary,” Murray said.
Meanwhile, tTech’s Chief Executive Officer, Christopher Reckord, in his address during the ceremony, urged the awardees who ranged from five to 14 years old, to start now in creating goals for themselves that would lead them to success — mirroring tTech’s trajectory from a hopeful five-employee start-up to now one of the most trusted IT service providers in the country with about 55 employees.
“It was important for us to make this investment in the children, as the future of tech in Jamaica is in their hands,” Reckford said.
Francine James-Prince, director of finance for the Tourism Enhancement Fund, and the event’s guest speaker, encouraged the children to follow her example in using education to their advantage, to navigate negative circumstances that they may face.
These sentiments were echoed by House of SDM’s Chairman, Sheldon Millington, who was pleased to be able to partner with tTech to support vulnerable students. He stated that, “the best thing that anyone can give is the gift of education and that is why we wanted to provide these children with something that could positively impact their lives”.
The students were gleeful to receive the gifts while their guardians expressed appreciation that their children would now have the opportunity to fully participate in their online classes because of the donation of tablets.