Teachers are being implored to make greater use of technology in the teaching and learning process, even as normality has returned to the education sector, following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Making the call, Minister of Education and Youth, Hon Fayval Williams, reiterated that technology-based education must become a permanent fixture in schools.

She was addressing the Teachers’ Colleges of Jamaica Biennial Research Conference 2023, held at the Holiday Inn Resort, Montego Bay, St James, on Wednesday (April 19).

“Government made a lot of investment in devices for our students, and we were able to get the sector through COVID. Yes, there has been learning loss, which we are making up, but the disappointing news is that now that we are post-COVID-19, we are not seeing the continuation of technology in our classrooms,” Mrs. Williams pointed out.

She stressed that the Government continues to make investments to speed up the pace at which schools employ information and communications technology (ICT) and urged teachers to capitalise on that investment.

“We have ensured… that all our primary-school teachers have laptops. Things can be downloaded and brought to the classroom. As I stand here today, we are ensuring that all of our secondary-school teachers have laptops; and we are ensuring that ICT labs in our secondary schools are upgraded,” the Minister said.

“We want to be encouraged, we want to know that the investment is not going to gather dust, that our teachers will be using [ICT in our classrooms to enrich the teaching and learning experience,” she added.

The Minister noted that half the nation’s schools have now been equipped with broadband connectivity, with plans to have Wi-Fi across all “primary, secondary, tertiary and early-childhood institutions, so that it is available in classrooms in our schools”.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Williams underscored that special development workshops and research conferences serve as critical avenues to help teachers examine new developments in pedagogy, “while at the same time improving their classroom skills”.

“As key participants and stakeholders in education, meaningful transformation can only happen if we involve your perspectives and engagement. Aligned to this must be continued professional development that keeps teachers apace with innovation and technological development in the field,” she said.

The three-day biennial research conference, which culminates on April 21, is being held under the theme ‘Preparing Teachers for The Next Education Task Force: Implications for National Development’.

The conference will provide a platform for faculty, students, local and regional and international partners to share their theoretical knowledge, research findings and pedagogical approaches with the academic community.

Students and staff at the Ferncourt High School in Claremont, St. Ann, will soon be able to access full Internet service, as the Government continues its push to upgrade the networking capability of schools.

Minister of Education and Youth, Hon Fayval Williams, who made the disclosure, said the groundwork is being done by technicians to have the institution equipped with Internet service.

She was speaking at the institution’s Open Day 2023, on Thursday (March 30), in celebration of the school’s 85th anniversary, under the theme ‘Reigniting our Zeal to Achieve Greatness’.

“We are working to ensure that Ferncourt High has adequate broadband connectivity all across the campus. I know that the technicians are working to ensure that, and in time, wherever you walk on the campus, you should have access to connectivity,” Minister Williams said.

She reiterated that the Ministry is committed to creating a strong information and communications technology (ICT) environment in schools to prepare students to adjust to a technologically advanced world.

“We know that is the way of the world now and you students need the skills as you complete your education,” the Minister said.

To this end, she noted that the new computer lab at Ferncourt High was outfitted with 49 new laptop computers, as “we want you to become as technologically savvy as you can”.

“We have to ensure that in our high schools, in particular, we have the devices available to you,” she added.

Meanwhile, Minister Williams implored the students to utilise the Microsoft Office 365 suite of programmes, available free of cost.

She said emails have already been sent to students and educators at their moeschools.edu.jm email accounts for access to Microsoft Office 365.

“I would like you to go to your MOEY email today. We have sent a link for you and all the teachers to download. You will have access to Microsoft Word, Excel, Teams, Notes and a whole host of Microsoft products and especially to you who are doing CSEC and CAPE… to help you to do your SBAs,” the Minister said.

The Minister hailed Ferncourt High for holding fast to its commitment to provide students with quality education.

A total of 173 secondary-level institutions across the island will be provided with 10,000 laptops, valued at $4.3 million, to outfit their computer laboratories.

The initiative is being undertaken by E-Learning Jamaica Company Limited (e-LJAM).

The devices will assist students in preparing for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) and also help in developing skills in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM).

Beneficiary institutions are those that would have received desktops under a project, which started in 2006, to equip high schools with computer labs and devices.

Many of the desktops provided are now obsolete and e-LJAM is replacing them with laptops.

Holy Trinity High became the first institution to receive devices with the official handover of the first 30 of 68 laptops at the school in Kingston on Wednesday (March 15).

The other 38 laptops, which will be presented to the school shortly, will outfit a second lab that is being retrofitted and a half-room computer lab.

Minister of Education and Youth, Hon. Fayval Williams, in her remarks at the handover ceremony, said the Ministry is committed to providing adequate resources to improve student academic outcomes.

She pointed out that coinciding with the laptop donation is the provision of 500,000 Microsoft Office 365 licences to students and educators in public schools.

The licence will allow students to access Microsoft productivity tools, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, One Note and OneDrive.

In his remarks, Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, Hon. Daryl Vaz, said the education sector will continue to adapt to modern technologies, with a focus on STEAM.

“STEAM is the way of the future; there’s no avoiding it. A country’s growth is directly impacted by its ability to adapt and solve problems, which is why the emphasis on STEM education is an imperative,” he pointed out.

Principal of Holy Trinity High, Father Carl Clarke, said he was pleased that the computers were being provided before the commencement of the CAPE and CSEC examinations in May this year.

“We are indeed grateful for this gift. We commit ourselves to taking care of them and using them to assist with the continued academic development at our school because we recognise that only the best is good enough,” he said.

Chief Executive Officer of e-LJAM, Andrew Lee, informed that over the last three years, the entity has delivered 150,000 technology devices to the most vulnerable students across the island.

He noted that work will continue to help “prepare our young people to adapt effectively to a changing world, largely dependent on technology”.

The Road Safety Unit (RSU) and the Island Traffic Authority (ITA) are actively engaging high-school students for the development of defensive driving skills and knowledge of the road code.

This initiative, dubbed the Road Safety Education in Schools Programme, is one of several measures being used to make the roadways safter for both motorists and pedestrians.

Director of the RSU, Deidre Hudson-Sinclair, told JIS News that the students who participate in the programme get a “full understanding” of the road code and how to drive safely, as the Ministry of Transport and Mining and its agencies are very concerned with many of the unsafe practices of some male drivers between 19 and 25 years of age.

“A lot of young men are at risk, so we recognise the importance of starting early,” she said, adding that schools wishing to be on the programme can contact the agencies at [email protected] and [email protected].

Mrs. Hudson-Sinclair said they want the students to learn the code, do the test and get involved in the programme.

“It is the aim of the RSU and the ITA to have a change in the culture, a positive driving culture, and it is part of a larger mechanism to get a new generation of drivers having critical skills, helping to avoid crashes and recognising that we have to drive for ourselves and the other persons on the road,” she added.

As part of the programme, the agencies, with support from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), have developed the Jamaica Adolescent Learner Driver Curriculum, which seeks to impart safe driving among the young population and to decrease the level of risk taking that is popular among them and which has accounted for many fatalities on the roads.

Under the new Road Traffic Act, persons seeking to obtain a provisional driver’s licence (learner’s permit), must take a road code test before it is granted, and within six months, they must successfully complete another test to obtain the driver’s licence.

Mrs. Hudson-Sinclair said the crashes on the roads can be avoided, as speed is a major factor, and drivers must consider the lives of others while they are in control of the vehicles.

She also called on pedal cyclists and pedestrians to be more visible at nights (by wearing bright coloured clothes), and persons should exercise more care when they are crossing the roads.

Approximately 2,500 students at Little Bay Primary and Infant School in Westmoreland and Old Harbour High School in St. Catherine are benefitting from the donation of two buses to the institutions.

The vehicles, which have bolstered the schools’ transportation arrangements, are already yielding positive outcomes, as student attendance at both schools has increased.

There has, additionally, been a decrease in the number of students at Little Bay Primary relying on ‘bike taxis’ to get to school.

The buses were provided by the Government of Japan at a cost of $11 million with grant funding support under the Japanese Grassroots Human Security Projects.

They will augment the Ministry of Education and Youth’s Rural Schools Transportation Programme.

The National Education Trust (NET), an agency of the Ministry, was pivotal in the process of acquiring the buses, which will also be utilised to transport youngsters for academic and extracurricular engagements.

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Fayval Williams, lauded the stakeholders collaborating on the engagement during a ceremony at the Ministry, on Tuesday (February 21), to formalise the arrangements.

She noted that students attending schools in rural communities often have to travel long distances, “without the requisite public transportation infrastructure to support them.”

Mrs. Williams said, consequent on this, “I am sure that the school community… also deeply appreciates this help.”

Japan’s newly appointed Ambassador to Jamaica, His Excellency Yasuhiro Atsumi, noted that Jamaica has benefitted from J$1.4 billion in programme support under the Grassroots Human Security Projects, since its launch in 1995.

“So once more, Japan is pleased to support educational programmes so that all students can fulfill their educational ambitions, lifelong learning skills and [have] opportunities equipped with strong support systems,” he said.

Meanwhile, several stakeholders welcomed the donations, among them, Custos Rotulorum for St. Catherine and Old Harbour High School Board Chair, Hon. Icylin Golding.

“We are excited for this gift of a bus. We pledge to [take] care… [of] this bus and use it to further education and enrich lives,” she said.

For his part, Little Bay Primary and Infant School Principal, Keron King, said the bus is a welcome addition to the institution.

“For the last four years, the most important goal that we had set was to get a school bus, [because] transportation is a major challenge for us. [So today] is one of the happiest days of my life,” he stated.

Approximately $159 million has been allocated to complete phase II of the Ministry of Education and Youth’s Education System Transformation Programme in the new fiscal year.

The sum is contained in the 2023/24 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives.

The programme will be implemented by the National Education Trust (NET) and funded by the Government of Jamaica.

The programme’s main objective is to advance the education sector’s modernisation and build on initiatives already executed.

These include improving the management of school plants, human and capital resources and student outcomes by 2025/26, and improving school efficiency and administration by establishing a management framework.

Other objectives are to increase student access to quality secondary-school places through the construction of six new Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) and one Visual and Performing Arts secondary-level institutions by 2028/29.