Student-teachers at Church Teachers’ College in Manchester and the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE) in Portland are to benefit from the installation of smart labs.
The Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information and Digicel Foundation, on Friday (Aug. 15), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the establishment of the facilities under the Smart Lab programme.
Fully equipped labs have already been set up at three teachers’ colleges – St. Joseph’s and Mico University College in Kingston and Sam Sharpe in St. James, transforming these spaces into modern learning environments.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr. Kasan Troupe, expressed pleasure that the programme, which was first implemented in primary schools in 2022, has been expanded to the teacher training institutions.
“So, the pre-service preparation is extremely important because it means that the teachers are coming out already exposed to 21st Century devices and equipment and so, they are up to par with the students,” she said, while addressing the signing of the MoU at the Ministry’s Heroes Circle headquarters in Kingston.
“We cannot be afraid of using the technology… so we must teach our teachers to interact with it and to embrace it and this is what the Digital Foundation is doing today,” Dr. Troupe pointed out.
She extended gratitude to Digicel Foundation for its continued support to the education sector.
Each smart lab is being constructed at a cost of US$80,000, which covers the renovation and retrofitting of existing spaces.
They will be fitted with laptops, tablets, a smart board with Mimio learning software, two-year free Digicel internet access and teacher training software.
Establishing smart labs in the teacher training colleges is expected to help trainee teachers build confidence and competence in integrating technology into their lessons and allow educators to explore and become familiar with the MimioStudio software.
It will also provide an opportunity to populate the Mimio software with locally relevant content, contextualised to the Jamaican curriculum and culture, while promoting a sustainable model of digital education by embedding the practice of technology integration into teacher preparation, not just classroom delivery.
Chairman of Digicel Foundation, Joy Clark, pledged to continue working with the Education Ministry to change lives, noting that the entity is dedicated to “making Jamaica the best place for our children.”
She expressed gratitude to the colleges for working with the Foundation, adding that she is looking “forward to the success stories that will come from the schools”.
Construction will begin on August 19 at Church Teachers’ College. Renovation works are expected to be undertaken over eight weeks, with an additional four weeks to fully retrofit the smart labs with the necessary technology.