Students Urged to be Responsible Digital Citizens

Chairman of e-Learning Jamaica, Yvonne McCalla-Sobers, has made a call for students to be responsible digital citizens, and to exercise extreme care when using the Internet.

Citing a recent video posting of a school where some “terrible things were happening,” she told the students that pictures and other information sent over the Internet are exposed all over the world, and “they must at all times be in good order, and depict the best image of themselves”.

“Your responsibility as digital citizens is not just to educate yourself…your responsibility is also to respect yourself, respect your own privacy, respect the privacy of others. Make sure that you are responsible digital citizens,” Mrs. McCalla-Sobers stated.

She was addressing the e-Learning Jamaica network installation and handing over at the Steer Town Academy in St. Ann, recently.

In her address, Chief Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, Grace McLean, told the students that they have a role to play in ensuring that Jamaica becomes a more disciplined society.

“Jamaica cannot be developed into the kind of society that we require unless there is discipline, there is order, there is respect and there is love for our people,” she stated.

“As we utilise the technology, let us also remember that it takes the kind of principles and values that are becoming of a developed society that will take this country forward,” she added.

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Mrs. McLean lauded the investments made in technology for schools through the e-Learning Jamaica Project, which she said, have enabled vast improvement in the achievement of students.

The e-Learning project began in 2006, and has provided a range of educational resources to assist in the preparation of students in 11 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects. It has also provided training for over 11,000 teachers.

The e-Learning Jamaica project is responsible for implementing projects funded by the Universal Service Fund, including the infusion of technology in the education system, facilitating the training of professionals to enable the process, and the provision of digitalised learning materials.

Steer Town Academy was the last of nearly 200 educational institutions to be equipped under the project. Computers and tablets were handed over to the school, with network connection provided.

Contact: Garfield L. Angus