WESTERN BUREAU – It will cost the government $3.5 billion to offer online tutorials at the island’s 200 secondary schools, over the next three years, as the ministries of education and technology work together to make it easier for students to master the CXC curriculum.

Education minister Maxine Henry-Wilson first announced the programme in May. It was pitched, then, as a programme that would help 11th graders who are struggling with CXC Math and English to overcome those problems with the help of online courses taught by the island’s top lecturers.

“The aim of the project is to try to see how we can present the CXC curriculum and the entire years in secondary school in a much more user-friendly way, using the multi-media facilities that are available,” Minister of Science, Commerce and Technology Phillip Paulwell told the Observer yesterday.

The project will begin, on a phased basis, at the start of the new school year in September with 10 new secondary high schools in the Corporate Area. Each will be equipped with a minimum of 100 computers.

According to the information and technology minister, the programme will involve the reshaping of the school’s curriculum to deliver powerpoint presentations in the classrooms and offer simultaneous lectures by video-conferencing to all participating schools.

“We are going to film those lectures and tutorials so that they can be rebroadcast on cable continuously, to the schools and libraries,” Minister Paulwell said. “So what we will be doing is to use the technology to deliver not only subjects related to computer technology but all subjects in schools.”

The project, which is endorsed by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), would transform the island’s educational system, he said.

Minister Paulwell presented the project to the ITU at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) conference in Geneva, Switzerland, last December.

According to Paulwell, as a result of his presentation the ITU has agreed to support the project and has already provided a consultant to fine-tune the programme.

Arguing that secondary education as it is now being offered can be boring, the information and technology minister said the new project would make learning more interesting.

In addition to financial support from the ITU, the project is also expected to receive financial assistance from the island’s telecommunication providers through a proposed cess on their annual sales.

PAULWELL. the aim is to try to see how we can present the CXC curriculum and the entire years in secondary school in a much more user-friendly way