Avia Collinder, Outlook Writer 
An old container was renovated to create the well-ventilated computer room for students of the Jamaica House Basic School. Standing beside their new classroom are the students and (from left) principal Veronica Parkinson-Burnett, computer teacher Gina Preston, and school board member Rosalie Goodman.
It's break time. Little girls tuck their skirts around their waists, with their legs and tiny pantaloons exposed to the midday wind, twisting and turning over, inside and around the brightly painted motor vehicle tyres which have been placed in strategic abundance in the grounds of the Jamaica House Basic School for their use.
The entire school is an example of low-cost innovation calculated to fill the lives of the school's 230 young students -boys and girls age three to six - with delight.
Principal Veronica Parkinson-Burnett plays with students in the new computer room at the Jamaica House Basic School. - Photos by Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer
they do not play enough
According to school board member and teacher trainer Rosalie Goodman, "We realised that they do not play enough so we have provided the tyres as one means of increasing opportunities for play."
The enthusiastic educator who she is now administrator for her husband's firm, Marvin Goodman and Associates, was the first principal and founder of Hillel Academy in Kingston. She now spends time every week ensuring that the young children of the Jamaica House Basic School receive a quality education.
"I enjoy implementing the best ideas in education in a basic school environment," she told Outlook.
Her most recent initiative was the remodelling of a metal container into a brightly painted computer room where technology teacher Gina Preston teaches the science to small students with the aid of computers donated by the National Commercial Bank.
"We had a derelict container in such bad condition that we were trying to pay someone to remove it. When we were given the reconditioned computers by NCB we realised we needed somewhere to put them," Mrs. Goodman explains.
Rosalie got the brilliant idea of converting the container. The floor and ceilings were rotting, the sides had empty spaces where louvres had fallen out and it would require new roofing, ceiling, flooring and windows.
But Rosalie, securing the help of her husband's company, came up with a design which has created space for learning which is "brand new".
Plyboards, coloured a shiny deep red, now form new flooring and the container was given a
raised pitch roof which allows cool air to fill the container.
Windows were placed in the side using "very inexpensive" and attractive shutters which are pushed out in the days and drawn closed at night.
New doors were also placed on the container. The entire structure was pained in the white, blue and yellow colours of the Jamaica House Basic School.
The desks inside the computer room were painted in other pretty colours to delight the small users.
"We used our talented multi-skilled workers - Mr. Glen Robinson and his assistant 'Bull' - to do this," Rosalie states.
She comments, "what is interesting about this is that the design includes passive solar energy which cuts down on heat while increasing air and light. There is therefore no need for artificial lighting, for air-conditioning or fans."
The pitch roof and the windows which allow great cross ventilation facilitate this.
Rosalie Goodman believes that the project can be replicated in other Jamaican schools, as the container is inexpensive to obtain and maintain (an old one may cost around $15,000). The renovations at the Jamaica House Basic School cost $177, 000 before paint was added, bringing it to $220,000. The greatest cost, Mrs. Goodman point out, was labour.
Materials included plywood for the flooring, ceiling board, zinc and one standard door which was cut in two, plus paint.
"There is so much talk of improving quality education. This is a means of establishing it easily and quickly with more space," Mrs. Goodman said.
Rosalie Goodman discusses the computer with the tiny tots of the Jamaica House Basic School.
Students with teacher Gina Preston in their new computer room at the Jamaica House Basic School.
School principal Veronica Parkinson-Burnett told Outlook "(the computer room) is excellent and the students are so enthused about it. It is very important that they know how to use the computer at an early age. They have no qualms about using them, either."
Burnett concluded, "there are some children who will not readily move to a book but they will do very well on computers. Even non readers make progress on the machines. The computer allows them to work at their own pace. it is more exciting than just sitting in a classroom and listening to a teacher talk," principal Burnett said.
Rosalie Goodman who admits that she is a technophobe states that the computer is not a luxury, but a tool which must be used for research, for writing and mathematics.
The basic school students enjoy using the machines to colour, draw and type their names. Goodman states that she has heard of new computers that cost US$100 and that she hopes some of these might be donated to the school, as four of the donated machines are currently out of use.
