Having started its rollout in a few select schools in August of this year, other schools within Jamaica’s wider early childhood education system will soon have access to the Graphogame literacy app. Developed by linguists, neuropsychologists and speech pathologists, Graphogame is the most-researched educational game, with proven efficacy in achieving basic literacy, equal to 1-to-1 teacher support, among children in the 4-9 age groups. The app is a generous gift to Jamaican school children from Winsome Wishes for KIDS (WWKIDS) in NY, with the assistance of the United States-based Windward Institute. In Jamaica, the Issa Trust Foundation has generously partnered with WWKIDS for the app rollout and the attendant nationwide awareness campaign.
“The pilot rollout in Jamaica has demonstrated that this app can play a very important role in bridging gaps in our early childhood education system, which are now widening as a result of COVID-19,” said Simone Sobers, Founder of WWKIDS. “It is interactive, intuitive and user friendly, and best of all, it is free. Once downloaded, it can be played without connectivity and data, which is significant at a time when children may have increased access to devices through several governmental and private sector initiatives, but still lack connectivity and have no access to data,” she continued.
The Issa Trust Foundation has expressed excitement at the rollout of the Graphogame in Jamaica. “This initiative is in clear alignment with our mission of community-building, providing resources for children to have access to education and promoting and improving health care and other services that increase the well-being and development of Jamaica. We are eager to get it in the hands of all children because we know that education is the foundation on which they will build the rest of their lives. We are happy to play a part in ensuring that this foundation is secure,” said Diane Pollard, President and CEO of the Issa Trust Foundation.
The Graphogame app will be available as a free-to-download application in Jamaica, on iOS, Microsoft and Android App Stores, starting in October. The donation of the app is a continuation of the work that WWKIDS has been doing in Jamaica over the last eighteen (18) months, which includes virtual workshops for teachers in Jamaica and the donation of devices to schools and children in need.
An instructional video to assist with devices that are not registered in Jamaica along with how to access the app is found at the following link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FCKyGV3Xesk7wc0cgH082BwKjAx2-86c/view
