C&W GIVES HIGH-SPEED INTERNET TO LIBRARY, SCHOOLS

Cable & Wireless in Anguilla is the first business unit in the region to offer the high-speed ADSL Internet Service to the Public Library and all schools on the island - and free of cost at that. (The new system will cost Cable and Wireless EC$20,000 a year).

The presentation of the necessary upgrading equipment was made on Tuesday at the Teachers’ Resource Centre to Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Orris Proctor along with Director of Library Services Russell Reid and Education Officer for the Primary Schools, Josephine Hodge.
General Manager Sutcliffe Hodge said the provision of the service was in keeping with Cable & Wireless’ continued commitment to assist in the education and overall development of the island’s children and those in the rest of the region.
He stated that he had worked for various companies but was most impressed with Cable & Wireless in terms of its contribution to the development of society. “I have found Cable & Wireless to be extremely generous in its contribution to the development of the market in which it serves not just across C&W (West Indies) but across some 70 countries where it has been operating over the many years,” he observed.
Mr. Hodge said the offer resulted from a request by Mr. Reid some months ago. “We contemplated it for sometime and decided to take the bold decision not only to make this offering available to the library, but also all the seven schools on the island – both public and private schools and both campuses of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School,” he said. He stated that in 1996 the company had offered free internet service to all the primary schools as well to the library and the following year to the Comprehensive School which they took up. The service was provided under the old dial-up internet system.
He was of the view that the new high-speed service using a different technology would go a long way towards improving the internet service at the library and schools. “It is with great pride, both as a Cable & Wireless employee and as an Anguillian for me to be part of this occasion,” he said. “We hope very much that we will make this facility available to all of the students in Anguilla in the primary and secondary school and that the library will also play its role in ensuring that we are on the right side…”
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Orris Proctor, thanked Cable & Wireless for upgrading the internet service at the library and schools. He said there was a need for Anguilla to prepare its children for the technological information age and to change the way by which they learn and are taught. He noted that the internet service and computer systems cost money, but the Government was unable to provide all the needed resources. He was therefore grateful when partners in the private sector, such as Cable & Wireless, contribute to the development of the island’s young people.
Mr. Reid joined Mr. Proctor in thanking Cable & Wireless for its kind gesture which will be of great assistance to the schools and the library.
Cable & Wireless has been a leading contributor to education in Anguilla for many years. Over the past 14 years the company has sponsored the Primary School Spelling B competition at a cost of EC$12,000. This year will be the 15th such sponsorship. The company has also donated EC$12,000 to the Albena Lake-Hodge sports day for the past three years; and the school’s science award for several years in the sum of EC$200 each year. All of this is in addition to the provision of internet services for the library and the schools over the years.

L-R: Orris Proctor, Sutcliffe Hodge, Russel Reid and Josephine Hodge