Scotiabank Foundation donates steelpans to Mt D’Or school

Stu­dents at Mt D’Or Gov­ern­ment Pri­ma­ry School will have greater ac­cess to steel­pan ed­u­ca­tion fol­low­ing the do­na­tion of a set of steel­pans from the Sco­tia­bank Foun­da­tion and Unit­ed Way Trinidad and To­ba­go (UWTT).

The do­na­tion forms part of an on­go­ing part­ner­ship be­tween the two or­gan­i­sa­tions aimed at ex­pand­ing ac­cess to steel­pan ed­u­ca­tion while sup­port­ing youth de­vel­op­ment and pre­serv­ing Trinidad and To­ba­go’s na­tion­al in­stru­ment.

The ini­tia­tive is de­liv­ered through UWTT’s Bridges to Suc­cess Pro­gramme, which in­te­grates mu­sic ed­u­ca­tion in­to schools as part of stu­dents’ over­all de­vel­op­ment. Or­gan­is­ers said the pro­gramme not on­ly helps pre­serve the coun­try’s cul­tur­al her­itage but al­so pro­motes cre­ativ­i­ty, team­work, cog­ni­tive de­vel­op­ment and self con­fi­dence among young learn­ers.

Mt D’Or Gov­ern­ment Pri­ma­ry School is the lat­est in­sti­tu­tion to ben­e­fit from the part­ner­ship, join­ing St Mary’s Mu­cu­rapo Boys’ and Girls’ RC Pri­ma­ry School, Matu­ra Gov­ern­ment Pri­ma­ry School, St David’s RC Pri­ma­ry School and El Do­ra­do East Sec­ondary School.

The or­gan­i­sa­tions said the col­lab­o­ra­tion has al­ready pro­vid­ed hun­dreds of stu­dents with op­por­tu­ni­ties for mu­si­cal and cul­tur­al en­rich­ment.

Prin­ci­pal Lyra Bona­parte said the do­na­tion would strength­en the school’s mu­sic pro­gramme while help­ing stu­dents de­vel­op their tal­ents and ap­pre­ci­a­tion for the steel­pan.

“This gift of steel­pans to Mt D’Or Gov­ern­ment Pri­ma­ry School is more than just a do­na­tion of a set of in­stru­ments. It is an in­vest­ment in the fu­ture of our stu­dents. It will in­spire them, nur­ture their tal­ents, build their con­fi­dence and help them gain a deep­er ap­pre­ci­a­tion for our rich cul­tur­al her­itage,” she said.

Unit­ed Way Trinidad and To­ba­go chief ex­ec­u­tive of­fi­cer Gail Sook­nar­ine said the ini­tia­tive was about more than pro­vid­ing in­stru­ments.

“The han­dover of these steel­pans to Mt D’Or Pri­ma­ry School is about so much more than mu­sic. It is about cre­at­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties for chil­dren to build con­fi­dence, ex­press them­selves and ex­pe­ri­ence the joy of be­ing part of some­thing to­geth­er. We at Unit­ed Way Trinidad and To­ba­go are proud to sup­port a space where tal­ent can be nur­tured and chil­dren can thrive,” she said.

Chair­per­son of the Sco­tia­bank Trinidad and To­ba­go Foun­da­tion Rox­ane De Fre­itas said the part­ner­ship re­flect­ed the or­gan­i­sa­tion’s con­tin­ued in­vest­ment in young peo­ple and the coun­try’s cul­tur­al her­itage.

She said the Foun­da­tion had sup­port­ed youth steel­band or­ches­tras for decades and was pleased to ex­pand that sup­port as Trinidad and To­ba­go pre­pares to ob­serve World Steel­pan Day on Au­gust 11.

“We are help­ing stu­dents dis­cov­er their po­ten­tial, build con­fi­dence and de­vel­op skills that ex­tend well be­yond the class­room. At the same time, we are pre­serv­ing and cel­e­brat­ing the lega­cy of the steel­pan, an in­stru­ment born in Trinidad and To­ba­go and ad­mired around the world,” De Fre­itas said.