The Rotary Race To Literacy Book Drive Project, a service project of the 36th Annual Rotary District 7020 Conference to be held in Kingston, Jamaica, has broken the world record for most books donated to charity in seven days.
Inspired by the 2008 Rotary International Convention in LA, where Rotarians set the record in the Guinness Book of World Records having 242,624 books donated over a seven day period, the Rotary Clubs of Jamaica set about their own book drive beginning on May 1, and as of May 4 (4 days into the seven day campaign), 627,248 books had been donated. Significantly the world record was actually broken on the very first day, when 270,456 books were donated.
The collected books will be donated to the people of Jamaica and Haiti. In Jamaica, the primary recipient will be the Jamaica Library Service with its island-wide network of branch, school and mobile libraries. The primary recipient in Haiti will be determined by Rotary at an appropriate time. More information is available at rotaryracetoliteracy.org
Thugs armed with machetes and knives reportedly invaded the Meadowbrook High School in St. Andrew yesterday, where they held up the students of an 11th grade class and robbed them of laptop computers (two in total), a computer game, flash drives and other items. The men reportedly entered the school compound, by climbing over a section of the school’s rear perimeter fence. A physical education teacher who attempted to hold on to one of the men as they made their escape, was reportedly stabbed in the abdomen. He is said to be in serious but stable condition at hospital.
All ‘hell’ reportedly broke loose in the Half-Way-Tree area of Kingston yesterday, after warring students from Excelsior and Ardenne high schools clashed in a violent mêlée that left several students from both institutions with stab wounds.
The principals of both schools are said to be having discussions in an attempt to defuse the situation, and a strong police presence is expected in the Half-Way Tree area this morning as part of an attempt to avert another clash between the warring students. The police are also asking teachers from both schools to come to the Half-Way Tree Transportation Centre in order to help ensure that students go directly to classes, then back home in the afternoon.
A 16-year-old grade-11 student of the Vauxhall High School in east Kingston, is now nursing seven stitches to the nose and two stitches to the head, after he allegedly attacked a teacher with a knife, but was disarmed and beaten up by the teacher. The incident reportedly took place last week Tuesday (February 16), and left the teacher nursing injuries as well.
Angella Chaplin, principal of Vauxhall High, is defending the actions of her teacher, and reportedly said “The boy attacked the teacher with a long knife and the teacher dealt with the situation admirably …. He is a problem child who comes to school and smokes ganja and, even though I don’t give up on my children, I think he will have to take leave and return to sit his external examinations.”
The teenager, who reportedly spent a day in hospital, is denying that he attacked the teacher with the knife, but has admitted that he had taken it to school and attempted to prevent the teacher from confiscating it. According to him, he and the teacher started to wrestle for the knife, and the teacher kicked him, so he grabbed a piece of board and used it to hit the teacher. He alleges that the teacher took the piece of board from him, and then proceeded to beat him with it, allegedly while he was lying defenseless on the floor.
The boy’s mother is quoted today in the media, seemingly focusing more on the fact that her son was beaten up, and less on the fact that he carried a knife to school and fought the teacher who was trying to disarm him. She is quoted saying “The teacher … had disarmed my son, so why did he hit him? Yes, my son was wrong to take the knife to school, but the teacher obviously lost it.“
