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The Verizon Foundation has announced a
$20,000 grant to the Olcott Education Society to help students
improve their English language and computer skills.
The Olcott Education Society, which operates
the Olcott Memorial High School in Besant Nagar, Chennai, will
use the grant to purchase and upgrade equipment to create a
computer lab capable of assisting as many as 30 students at a
time. The school also will receive CD-ROMs in numerous subjects,
an LCD projector and other equipment to assist students in
developing math, science and computer skills.
Students also will take part in language labs
designed to improve verbal English skills and increase
vocabulary.
The Olcott Memorial High School serves
approximately 600 students in classes 1-10, primarily from the
nearby fishing communities. There is no cost to attend.
"This grant will allow us to purchase the
technology and tools we need to engage our students and give
them a strong base of skills needed to participate fully in the
information age,” said Olcott Memorial High School Head Mistress
Lakshmi Suryanarayanan.
The grant to the Olcott Education Society is
the latest step in a longstanding relationship between the
school and Verizon employees based in Chennai. For nearly two
years, Verizon employees have volunteered their time each week
to assist in classes and mentor students at Olcott.
The grant is the Verizon Foundation's first
to assist the literacy and education efforts of a school or
nonprofit in India.
"Improving educational opportunities for all
children and advancing student achievement is a key mission of
the Verizon Foundation,” said Patrick Gaston, Verizon Foundation
president.
The Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm
of Verizon Communications, is committed to improving literacy
and education through its signature program Thinkfinity.org;
fostering awareness and prevention of domestic violence; and
promoting the use of technology in health-care delivery.
Olcott Education Society is named after its
founder Colonel Henry Steel Olcott who founded the school in
1894. The school was founded to provide schooling to the
children of the most underprivileged sections of society.
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