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On 31st of May 2020 the Achievement Learning Centre (ALC) will no longer have a home to cater to children with special needs in Dominica.<\/p>\n
After 9 years of operation the owners of the centre located on 3 Elliot Avenue Pottersville were given notice to vacate the building for non-payment of rent.<\/p>\n
Director of the ALC, Beverly Leblanc said during an interview that most of the parents of children who attend the centre have stumbled upon financial difficulties.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately for us we ran into very serious financial difficulties. Most of our parents are unable to pay the school fee and so we were getting some assistance from after Hurricane Maria in terms of tuition assistance for the students, which actually helped us to pay our rent and to subsidize some of our teachers, because most of our staff is subsidize by the National Employment Programme,\u201d she said. \u201cWe still owe the rent we have to pay and we also need to raise funds, at least we can have a place after the Pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n
She continued, \u201c As of 2nd term January 2020 this funding has not been forthcoming and hence, we were unable to service our rent\u2026Covid-19 didn\u2019t make it easier for us and so it has plummeted us in a much deeper hole and in so we were asked to give up the place by the 31st of May 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leblanc added, \u201cSo while we have a name, we do not have a home.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to her the centre continues to provide online education to children through google classroom, \u201chowever when this Pandemic is over we do not have a physical place that we can call home because we have to leave\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Leblanc indicated that children with special education needs have been marginalized not just in Dominica, but it is a global phenomenon and most times governments around the world do not invest in children with special needs because they think of the return on investment.<\/p>\n
She said the school has had many challenges along the way but despite these challenges it has had successes.<\/p>\n
\u201cOut of the 5 boys who have graduated from the ALC two [are] currently employed, one at Jolly\u2019s Pharmacy and the other works in landscaping, two others are presently at the Dominica State College (DSC) completing the CSEC Program,\u201d she revealed. \u201cWe have seen the children grow, we have had children who came in with no speech at all and now are having basic conversations\/communication.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leblanc thanked all the partners who have supported the centre over the years in helping to ensure that the physical learning environment is enhanced to make it conducive for the children.<\/p>\n
ALC is a school for children with disabilities, teaching them not only to function in the real world but teaching them the Dominica standard curriculum as well.<\/p>\n
Its mission is to provide high quality education and training, while creating a nurturing and supportive community of learners in a stimulating learning environment.<\/p>\n
Their aim is to expose all learners to the necessary training, skills and education programs that will allow them to make a meaningful contribution to society.<\/p>\n
The ALC officially opened its doors in March 2011 with 2 boys. The goal was to fill the gap that existed in the mainstream classroom.<\/p>\n
Presently the school has 22 students between the ages of 6 to 15 years.<\/p>\n
The Achievement Learning Centre can be contacted via their Facebook page<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0or email address:\u00a0achieve074@gmail.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On 31st of May 2020 the Achievement Learning Centre (ALC) will no longer have a home to cater to children with special needs in Dominica. After 9 years of operation the owners of the centre located on 3 Elliot Avenue…","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":249010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,77,235,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-educationyouth","category-homepage","category-homepage-carousel","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n