 Most strides are being made in Bridgend, a digital divide in the education sector, as COVID-19 changes the manner of instruction. The Education Quality Improvement Project Equip St. Lucia has provided some 30 laptop devices to visually impaired students and special education teachers on the island. Project coordinator Marie-Grace Ogis says the devices were financed by grant funding from the Caribbean Development Bank. 16 will go to students, special education needs students, and 14 will go to teachers. Now, you probably be wondering, well, why there was this delay? Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have to recognize that even in the supply chain of our laptops, it was a little glitch because the suppliers, the overseas suppliers, could not get the parts that they required to put into the laptops. But at least they here, they fully delivered. Chief Education Officer Dr. Fiona Phillip-Mayer says the devices are designed not just to assist in the learning process, but open new and dynamic opportunities to the students. The software is going to help turn text into voice so much so that we know that it's not only about Braille, which is a very important skill to learn, but with the advent of the internet, students are able to actually look at the text with the software that they have and get the voice for it. So that is really, really a powerful thing to be able to access so much more. So let me congratulate the team, let me thank them on behalf of all of us educators for empowering our students, investing in our students, improvement and ensuring that their skills are even further. Education Officer for Special Education, Dale Sergis, lauded central government's commitment to revolutionizing education for the special needs sub-sector. Many of our special schools have already set up their online platforms for the learning of their students. One area of deficits for many of them is the availability of devices for the teachers. We have done a very careful examination of the situation, an assessment of the needs, and these devices are going to persons who have needs. And we know that the laptops will be used in the service of the education of our students. So we are very grateful for this opportunity. I also want to say that this handover, although it is coming within the COVID period, it is not strictly COVID assistance. I think I can correctly say that Equip has always had it in mind to provide high quality educational resources to support the special needs community. That has always been part of the thinking behind Equip and that includes making available assistive devices for persons with special needs, providing training for teachers, providing support for the parents of children with special needs. And this is one of the components of that improvement in education for the special needs sector. The handing over ceremony was held on Monday, February 15, 2021, at the Equip Conference Room at Goodlands. Hester Sinclair, teacher at the Donato School, received on behalf of special needs teachers, and Mia Randolph, a special needs student of the Castries Comprehensive Secondary School, received on behalf of benefitting students.