Government boosting Internet access in schools

Education Minister Ruel Reid has announced plans by the Ministry to boost Internet access in primary schools and early-childhood institutions.

This, he notes, will serve to enhance the scope of education through greater integration of technological strategies in the classrooms.

"All high schools already have computer labs and access to Internet, generally... but not all our primary schools and not all our early-childhood institutions do. So we now have a task to make sure information and communications technology (ICT) is universally accessible," he said.

Noting that ICT remains a key and powerful driver for enhancing Jamaica's sustainable development, Reid said the education sector must become an exemplar in the use of technological applications.

"We are moving to online learning ... flipping the classroom. So, again, both teachers and students will now have to begin to recognise that ICT is now going to be a modality of the delivery of content, in the teaching and learning process ... and experience," he said.

Reid said the Government will continue to expand the roll-out and utilisation of ICT across the educational system, to further strengthen its effectiveness.