MINISTER of Education and Youth Maxine Henry-Wilson has noted the importance of exposure to information technology as key to ensuring that every child leaves the education system with good grades and a combination of life skills that will allow them to be good, employable citizens.

“Simply put, we want our children to be more excited about learning, and we have also, through research, found that our boys do better in that kind of environment too. So our classrooms will become doorways to new ideas and technologies and promote innovative thoughts, practices and systems,” she said.

The minister was speaking at the launch of free Internet service to public schools by new entrant to the telecommunications industry, Flow, at Kingston High School on Thursday.

The Flow initiative is geared at providing all public secondary schools with ultra high speed broadband Internet service free, wherever the company offers its service. Kingston High is among the first seven schools to receive the service. The others are Donald Quarrie High, New Day Primary and Junior High, Ardenne High, Mona High, Campion College, and St Andrew High School for Girls.

Henry-Wilson has commended the company’s efforts in the area, particularly with the inclusion of inner-city schools like Kingston High into the programme.

“The launch of the project deepens my hope for public private partnership, which is an integral part of our education system. In recent times, we have had greater involvement of important segments of the private sector,” she said. “We want to reaffirm our recognition that the education system will only be able to achieve and sustain excellence if we are able to have real and enduring partnerships with other stakeholders, including our private sector.”

– JIS