The Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) presented Guy’s Hill High School, Ensom City Primary School and Eltham Park Primary School with a total of 95 Samsung tablets at a ceremony held at the JADCO in Kingston on Wednesday.

Guy’s Hill High School received 25 Samsung tablets by virtue of having the most participants online during an annual Junior Athletes Anti-Doping Education Workshop for their region. The workshops were held via Zoom for four regions across the island during the month of November.

The series of workshops last year were held virtually for the first time due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Region One where Guys Hill is located also includes secondary schools from Kingston and St. Andrew, St. Thomas and St. Catherine.

“The donation of Samsung tablets is part of a broader initiative that JADCO is now executing in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information as part of the public education and awareness thrust of the Commission; and so JADCO will be introducing antidoping as part of the primary school curriculum. Today it starts with two primary schools, Eltham Park Primary and Ensom City Primary,” said Olivia Grange, Minister of Culture, Entertainment, Gender and Sports.

Chairman of JADCO, Alexander Williams said the Commission preloaded anti-doping information to the devices because “we believe that if athletes are armed with the requisite information pertaining to anti-doping from the primary and secondary school levels they will be well equipped to make informed decisions when they become senior and professional athletes.”

Meantime, Principal of Guy’s Hill High School, Joan Davis said her school was grateful for the tablets that will help mitigate the challenge of educating children during the ongoing pandemic.

 “We have many students at our school without a device and to get 25 Samsung tablets will help us to bridge the gap that exists, so we are very grateful,” she said.

Her sentiments were echoed by Shayanique Neil, a student-athlete at Guys Hill.

 “This event was inspiring, to see JADCO giving and helping others in this pandemic, which is a challenging time for students all over Jamaica, especially the ones who are in need of the devices to access online school. I would like to show gratitude and appreciation from my school to JADCO, we are grateful,” she said.

Another chief beneficiary was Ensom City Primary and Eltham Park Primary Schools that received 35 Samsung devices each.

“This gesture is really overwhelming for me because I recognize that I have some students who we have not been connecting with, so I am happy that at least 35 of them will now be able to connect and be in the mainstream of things, so thanks again JADCO,” said Acting Principal of Ensom City Primary School, Karlene Collins-Dawkins.

The principal of Eltham Park Primary School, Conroy Griffiths said her school getting these tablets would benefit her school tremendously. “We will have 35 less students that are not being engaged meaningfully and this will go a far way in helping us,” he said.

In the upcoming weeks, 75 Samsung tablets will be presented to schools from the remaining regions, which includes region two, with schools from Clarendon, Manchester and St. Elizabeth, region three with schools from Westmoreland, Hanover, St. James and sections of Trelawny and region four, which includes schools from St. Ann, St. Mary, Portland and sections of Trelawny.

More than 300 junior athletes and their support personnel attended the virtual series of the 2020 Junior Athletes Anti-Doping Education Workshops. JADCO hosted the inaugural Junior Athletes Anti-Doping Education Workshop for athletes and athlete support personnel at the Jamaica Conference Centre (JCC) on Wednesday, February 12, 2014.

The workshops have been held annually since 2014.