The promotion of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique as a tourism product, was seen through a different lens by a team of high-powered visiting journalists from the United Kingdom (UK).
The UK journalists recently toured one of the first ‘stand alone’ libraries built by GND Schools Incorporated at the South St George Government School. The 5 journalists from various world-renowned media outlets, including ‘The Times’ and ‘The Daily Telegraph’ were on island during July 2021, writing promotional pieces on Grenada as a luxury travel and economic sustainable tourist destination.
Local trustee of GND Schools Inc. (GSI) and owner of the Calabash Luxury Boutique Hotel Leo Garbutt MBE, took the team of journalists for a short tour of the school library. Here they learnt more about GSI’s early literacy development programme, which has been ongoing since 2014.
The journalists received a warm welcome from Andrea Phillip, Chief Executive Officer at GND Schools Inc. and Davis Adams, Principal at South St George Government School.
Speaking on site, Garbutt, also President of the Grenada Hotel and Tourism Authority, said the aim of the library visit was to give the visiting press a different angle on their coverage of Grenada as a tourism product. Garbutt also wanted them to capture a more personable experience by seeing the positive impact of GSI’s literacy programme on primary school students and the wider community.
Paul Charles, Founder and CEO of The PC Agency, spoke highly of the design quality and layout of the library. The former BBC News Presenter noted the link between the use of the library and possible future career opportunities both on and off island, which will benefit Grenada’s tourism product on a whole.
Annabel Illingworth, writer for the ‘i’ was impressed with the quality of opportunity that GSI’s literacy programme affords to all public primary school students across the tri-island state.
GND Schools Inc. is on a mission to ensure that every public primary school is equipped with functioning libraries and that teachers and principals are efficiently trained in library care and management. Only recently, GND Schools Inc. concluded a three-day virtual “Library Care and Management” training workshop via Zoom, which saw participation from 14 teachers and 7 principals from 7 public primary schools.
GND Schools Inc. is collaborating with the Government of Grenada, through the Ministry of Education, Human Resource Development, Religious Affairs and Information, and is backed by main donors Michael and Melanie Sherwood from the United Kingdom. Other local trustees include Lyden Ramdhanny and Jason Roberts.
GND Schools Inc