EIGHTEEN schools in St Catherine now have access to the internet, following Cellular King Limited's recent donations of Nokia 3200 phones, equipped with modem connectivity.

The cellular company recently presented the Jamaica Teachers' Association's (JTA) Northwest St Catherine District Association with the handsets during its monthly meeting at the Planters Hall All-Age School in Old Harbour.

For Hershila Peart, president of the Northwest St Catherine District Association, the donation of the 18 cellular instruments, valued at $12,000 each, could not have come at a better time. She recalled the difficulties of not being able to go online because of where the institution is geographically located.

"As a rural school, we are way out of the town. We don't have landlines to access the Internet, but we have computer. the children usually have to go down into the town to access the Internet. The teachers also have to do it too," she explained.

However, she said the phones, which have modems that can hook up to computers, would allow students and teachers to access the Internet. "The children and the teachers will now have access to a vast array of information to assist whatever research they are doing. Also, it will assist the community members because from to time we try to have outreach programmes so that they can access the facility of the computer," Peart added.

Cellular King's junior technician, Rohan Francis, said the Nokia 3200 handset model featured a camera, flashlight, transistor radio, infrared, organiser and voice recorder. He explained that the benefits offered by this particular model were numerous, and would serve the district well in helping to bridge the digital divide.

The schools that received phones include: Bois Content, Bellas Gate, Marlie Mount, Old Harbour Bay, Good Hope, Spring Gardens, Marlie Hill, Ecceleston, Old Harbour High, GingerRidge, Bartons, Browns Hill and Watermount, among others.

"Our establishment is committed to education and the betterment of students nationally," Cellular King's project director and public relations manager Sophia Findlay Laidley said in a news release.

"The Internet can open a whole new world for its users to access research information readily and speedily, get involved in e-commerce, facilitate applications to businesses and schools to further career and educative aspirations, create wealth, and a host of other benefits which are relevant to today's society. Communities may not have telephone lines, but it shouldn't mean its residents mustn't have access to the Internet," she added.

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