ExxonMobil, Rotary Club partner to offer free online learning

ExxonMobil Guyana has partnered with the Rotary Club of Stabroek to ensure students continue their education while home during the COVID-19 pandemic through free online tutorials and quizzes to help them remain engaged academically and prepare for examinations later this year.
The Rotary Club of Stabroek stated that it is delighted to roll out this initiative and will collaborate with local technology services company BrainStreet through the BrainCentral (www.braincentral.online) online portal.
The initial focus will be on Grades 4, 5, and 6, and resources for other grades will also be developed. The primary overall objective is to help ensure that students continue to prepare for the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA), Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), which is slated for the first week in July and other academic examinations.
The tools being used on BrainCentral to deliver educational content and resources to the participants include live classrooms, quizzes, assignments, discussion forums, chatrooms, interactive lessons, wikis, competency assessments, and online workshops.
Students will have the opportunity to participate in online olympiads and other contests to foster the spirit of competition in the overall pursuit of excellence. Additionally, students will have access to over 125,000 questions ranging from Grades 4 to 11 (CSEC), which will be available on computers and a wide range of mobile devices.
President of the Rotary Club of Stabroek, Rotarian Colin Thompson said the Club is pleased to partner with ExxonMobil and The BrainStreet Group on an initiative that supports youth literacy. Having worked with these partners before, he believes that joining forces again signals a deepening partnership to address common concerns.
He further opined that it is important, in this evolving landscape, where the delivery of content, communicating with students and assessing learning may never be the same again, to develop sound online learning platforms. These platforms should not mimic the face-to-face classroom experience but instead must address all the nuances of access, convenience, distance, and engagement.
Meanwhile, ExxonMobil Guyana’s Senior Director for Public and Government Affairs Deedra Moe has indicated that support for this initiative demonstrates the company’s commitment to Guyana’s social and economic progress. “Children are an important part of Guyana’s development story, and as we all find ways to adjust during these difficult times, ExxonMobil Guyana considers it necessary to support a project geared at ensuring they are meaningfully engaged and that there is no major disruption to their education.”
BrainStreet has experience in delivering online tutoring and began using its online learning platform to offer free online tutoring and practice questions in Mathematics and English since March 2020, following the closure of schools due to the COVID-19 outbreak here.