The children of Carlota now get to go to a new school, all thanks to a gift from pineapple producer and exporter, Agroindustrial Bananera del Caribe. Several improvements have been made as the roof of the school will no longer be a danger to the classrooms of Carlota where the students have their classes together. They will now have three classrooms that will permit the school to concentrate on classes in each grade, provide classes in English and have a computer lab. The director of the Carlota School, Luis Angel Mendez, said “That thanks to the new classrooms the students of this community can aspire to receive lessons in English and Computation, in addition to their normal studies. We knocked on many doors, but none opened until we knocked on the door of this company. We expected a few improvements and changes, but they completely rebuilt the school.”
This transformation in the life of the 30 students of the Carlota School in Cariari de Pococi is thanks to the Social Responsibility Program of Agroindustrial Bananera del Caribe (AIBC), which is a member of the Camera National of Producers and Exporters of Pineapple (CANAPEP). The philosophy of AIBC is that the contributions of the company are basically to improve the social life of the workers and improve the potential of future generations. Marianela Duran, the Director of Human Resources said, “This is an investment that will benefit the children and will make the parents happy. But in the long run this will benefit the entire community and also our company because in the future, these children will be better prepared to offer services as professionals. The investment cost is not what’s important; it is the results that count. This reconstruction also provides peace of mind to the parents, as the children no longer have to walk 3 KM to the next closest educational facility.”
The changes over the last 6 months have been very elaborate, with a hurricane fence surrounding the property to protect the children, new bathrooms with sinks for everyone to wash their hands, in addition to the new classrooms. The school lot was drained and leveled to provide a safe and dry place for the children’s recreation time.
