THE cost for Internet services for primary and secondary schools islandwide are to be fully absorbed by Cable and Wireless Jamaica.

Cable and Wireless Jamaica president, Gary Barrow, who made the announcement yesterday during a Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) job creation awards ceremony at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston, said the Internet service will be supplied for three years, initially. He estimates the total cost to the company to be between $5 million and $6 million.

Barrow told the Observer after the ceremony that Cable and Wireless has been working with the HEART Trust/NTA through a programme called Classmate, to provide a 50 per cent discount on Internet service to more than 150 secondary and primary schools. Each school now pays approximately US$20 per month under the programme.

"What we will do now (is) we won't interact directly with the school. We will continue to work as far as the administration is concerned with HEART/NTA and they will administer the programme and they will present the bill to us and we will take care of it," he said.

The HEART Trust/NTA had been providing Internet service to most schools with computer facilities.

There are an estimated 100,000 Internet users islandwide, but about 90 per cent of Jamaicans still do not have Internet access. This has serious implications for the future of the country, Barrow said, urging the private sector and the education ministry to find ways to bridge the digital divide.

"We have lost some generations. Today's children in Jamaica are the first generation of the digital age. We cannot afford to lose this generation and we must pull together to avail all our children of the vast opportunities awaiting them."

Education minister, Burchell Whiteman, who was present at the function, but who apparently had no previous knowledge of the move by Cable and Wireless, thanked the company for taking their support for the education system to a higher level. "This gives us a platform for other kind of interventions which I hope will have the effect of totally eliminating the digital divide within Jamaica over the next two years," he said.

Yesterday's function was the fifth Job Creation Awards Ceremony put on by the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica to honour companies whose new investment created a minimum of 25 new jobs in the last six months.

The four companies that received awards were: Wrap Your World, Continental Baking Company, TSD Jamaica Limited and H D Hopwood and Company Ltd.

Richard Chen, the co-chair on the Job Creation Awards Committee, said the companies had qualified for the awards, as they represented the "spirit of entrepreneurism and positiveness" in a difficult economic environment.

Wrap Your World, which was incorporated in 1998 with a vision to provide authentic Jamaican resort wear for the tourist industry, produces 25,000 wraps weekly and employs more than 600 workers.

Continental Baking Company is the successor to National Continental Corporation Limited, formerly National Baking Company Limited and was the first bakery in Jamaica to produce sliced bread. They started in 1952 with 25 employees but now has 500 people on staff, producing a wide range of bakery products -- bread, buns, crackers, biscuits and snacks.

TSD Jamaica Limited is owned by the US Teleservices Direct based in Indianapolis, USA. It started operation on March 15 this year and has 74 staff member on roll. Their market is primarily college students, sourcing credit card customers for major bank issuers.

HD Hopwood and Company Ltd, incorporated in 1935, is a major Jamaican importer and distributor of international brands of pharmaceuticals and consumer products. They have a staff of over 250, 29 of those jobs were created six months ago to meet the needs of its expanding business.

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