SECURITY cameras are to be installed at one of Jamaica's leading high schools, Kingston College, before the end of September, a group of former students undertaking that and other projects at the school disclosed Tuesday.
Dr. Patrick Dallas
The Fortis 69ers, a group of boys who started attending the institution on September 8, 1969 - the day Jamaica changed its currency from pound, shilling and pence to dollar and cents - told grade seven students at the school's Melbourne campus that they were committed to improving their lives while they learned.
The Fortis 69ers include prominent Jamaicans, among them Members of Parliament Clive Mullings and Anthony Hylton, engineer Dr Patrick Dallas, professor of chemistry at the University of the West Indies Paul Reese, construction specialist Maurice Weir, civil engineer Clinton Watson, hospitality management consultant Franklyn Eaton, and veterinary surgeon Dr Cedric Lazarus.
Dallas said that the installation of security cameras was borne out of the fact that the school wanted to improve on its discipline and thereby could closely monitor the activities of students. The cameras would also work against external interference.
"We want the cameras to be installed before the end of September at both our North Street and Melbourne campuses," Dallas told the gathering."The group will be undertaking several other projects, including the transformation from blackboards to whiteboards, renovation of the female staff restroom and repair of the Spanish room at North Street, the installation of water tanks on the Science block, and the renovation of the teachers' lounge.
"We will also be providing computers for the registry, expanding the mentorship programme and launching an educational trust fund," he said.
The Fortis 69ers have also pledged to have the school fully computerised under the Information and Communication Technology enabled school project by 2012. "The KC family is happy to have you here. In coming days, you will see the colour of your blood turn to purple," Dallas told the youngsters.
Weir implored the students to do their best while they attended the institution.
"What you are about to embark on for the next five to seven years will be the best years of your lives. You will form bonds of friendship which will never leave you."There are two kinds of people in Jamaica, those who went to KC and those who wished they had. Our history is rich and it embodies all that is good. You can make a difference," said Weir.
