The Cable & Wireless Jamaica Foundation (CWJF) will be providing free high speed Internet service for the new computer facility at the Sylvia Foote Basic School operated by the Voluntary Organisation for Uplifting Children (VOUCH).

Roger Richards, Cable & Wireless Jamaica's senior vice-president, voice, Internet and data made the commitment to equip the facility for broadband Internet access and supply the service free of cost, at yesterday's official opening ceremony for the computer lab.

Richards commended the VOUCH team for setting up the computer lab and said the CWJ Foundation was willing to support them in upgrading the facility. "Any initiative designed to expose our young people to Information and Communication Technology is a building block for the future of the nation," he said.

He added: "This is why one of the mandates of the Cable & Wireless Jamaica Foundation is to help bridge the digital divide and it is a responsibility we take very seriously."

Said Richards: "In the years to come, many of our students will have to compete with their peers from more developed countries who, from a very early age, would have had access to increasingly sophisticated information technology tools.
So, it goes without saying that if we want to give this generation of Jamaicans the best chance for success we must do all we can to make access to information and communication technology as universal as possible."

Executive Director of VOUCH, George Sterling, expressed appreciation to the foundation for the contribution to the school.

"We are trying to ensure that our students get computer exposure from an early age because it will help with their development. We set up the computer room, but we were not able to provide Internet service," he said.

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