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Fort Liard school awarded $25,000 toward literacy upgrades

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After being years behind, the students at Echo Dene School will have a fully updated catalogue of books after the school received grant-funding dedicated to advancing literacy.

The Fort Liard school was chosen as one of 30 across Canada to receive funding from the Indigo Love of Reading Foundation.

The school will be receiving $25,000 to put toward buying new books for students as well as upgrading resources for their school's Daily Five literacy program.

Echo Dene principal Brad Carrier said the school intends to put an emphasis on making Indigenous and First Nations resources available for students.

“A lot of our classroom libraries are out of date and we need to have more relevant books and novels for our students ... we are looking to incorporate more First Nations and Indigenous based (reading material).” said Carrier. “It's very special to have received this grant, we do have a community library, but this enables us to get what we need.”

Carrier added the school has been chipping away at upgrading books and literacy programs since he took over as principal in 2016.

The grant allows Echo Dene to better accommodate the school's 100 students.

The remaining 10 per cent of the $25,000 will go toward improving the literacy program.

Books are a critical resource for the students and the teachers for the program, as teachers use them for a majority of the activities, said Carrier.

The program is made up of five different language exercises which encourage students to read to themselves, read to fellow classmates and improve word comprehension.

University of Toronto co-op student Claire Tincombe spearheaded the process of obtaining grant funding for literacy. Tincombe said this is one of many she has been researching and is excited her work could help improve the school.

“I'm hoping to see the students start to take books home with them after we get (the new books),” said Tincombe. “ The schools needs a library, not having a physical library is a challenge.”

In her 10 months of being in Fort Liard, Tincombe – who works with the Echo Dene high school students – obtained this grant as well as a funding for the schools technology program.

The total amount she has raised for the school is $35,000.