Primary Schools Next Phase of ICT Push by Education Ministry

The Ministry of Education and Youth is to introduce technology labs in primary schools in the next phase of its ongoing drive to build out information and communications technology (ICT) across the education sector.

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Fayval Williams, said equipping these institutions with technology labs is critical to promoting the development of critical skills for the digital age.

“The primary schools have not normally had technology labs in them. We are creating technology labs in our primary schools so that at an early age our children can have access,” she said.

Mrs. Williams was speaking with JIS News on January 8, at The Queen’s School in Kingston, where she visited to usher in the new school term.

The Government is engaged in a push to harness ICT as a major pillar in the transformation of the education sector.

The Minister noted that more than half the number of schools targeted for internet access have already received the service.

“If you look at infrastructure and technology, we are ensuring that our schools are being connected with adequate broadband connectivity. We are past the halfway mark in terms of the number of schools. We are ensuring that we upgrade all of our technology labs in our high schools, which we have done, and we are moving on now to our primary schools,” she said.

In addition to providing connectivity to schools, the Ministry will be increasing the use of technology in classrooms.

“We have to ensure that within classrooms it is accessible, so that teachers can use it to enhance lessons, and so that is the next step. There is a procurement under way to ensure that we have the Wi-Fi signal propagated across the school campus. Our vision is that all of our schools across Jamaica, regardless of where they are, should have access to adequate broadband connectivity, so that our children won’t get left behind,” the Minister said.

“It is a massive project that has been under way for at least two years, and it will continue probably for another two years for us to perfect it. We can’t afford for our children to be left behind from a technology perspective, and that is why we have this significant effort under way,” she added.