 The Grozile Primary School officially received a makeover and additional reading resources through the kind compliments and collaborative efforts of CIBC St. Lucia and Hands Across the Sea. Hands Across the Sea is a U.S.-based international NGO dedicated to raising childhood literacy in the Eastern Caribbean since 2007. Hands Across the Sea director Amanda Shirley stated that the organization has been in St. Lucia since 2012 and the Grozile Primary School is one of its latest beneficiaries. She says access to books means access to dreams and highlighted the dedication and passion of administrators who've made the library project worthwhile. Your principal, she understands that you all are the future of St. Lucia and you all are the future of our beautiful world that we have to care for and we have to protect. And so by having your library and by making this space open for you, what your teachers and what your librarians and what your literacy links and what your bankers and what Mr. C. Paul joins us, your district officer, what they're saying is everybody sees how wonderful all of the children are and they want to make sure that you have everything that you can so that you can dream big and achieve anything you want in life. Please keep coming to the library, read your stories, write your own stories. Country head of CIBC St. Lucia, Nigel Oliver, commended Hands Across the Sea for the amazing work they continue to do, adding that the work and mission of changing the landscape of childhood literacy in St. Lucia is admirable and CIBC is proud to be part of that mandate as a contributing partner. Enough has been said about what the Hands Across the Sea program brings to the communities in which they are represented in the islands and where they participate. As CIBC, we've been partner with them for quite a few years and we're very proud of our partnership. We are very involved in community activities and this has been one of the critical programs that we've participated in for a number of years. So it's great to be able to meet the people and put a face to the name that you've known for a while and also to see the enthusiasm of the partners here in St. Lucia. Principal of the Grozile Primary School, Melissa Charles, expressed her gratitude to all partners, especially the special education tutors who've used their resources and held the hands of young students to improve their reading skills significantly and by extension boosting their confidence and chances at excelling academically. At the beginning of the literacy program, as I said, they were struggling with letter sounds, blending, segmenting and reading. However, they improved with the use of decodable and level readers donated by Hands Across the Sea. These students are not strong readers but they have worked towards improving their literacy skills and so deserves an opportunity to showcase their growth. Hands Across the Sea is recognized as the most effective literacy non-governmental organization in the Eastern Caribbean, working directly with stakeholders such as principals, teachers, students as well as the business community, rallying together to ensure that there is access to literacy resources and it's not limited for any child anywhere at any time. From the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training, I am Danielle Dubois reporting.