550 graduate from NCU computer literacy programme
MANDEVILLE, Manchester – Five stay-at-home mothers were among more than 550 persons (400 in absentia) who recently received certificates from the Community Computer Literacy Outreach Awards Ceremony, hosted by the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) in partnership with the Scotiabank Jamaica Foundation.
According to programme coordinator Avery Thompson, the computer literacy programme was initiated by the Computer and Information Services Department at the NCU.
The first participants were executives and board members of the university. They were followed by police personnel from Area Three – Clarendon, Manchester and St Elizabeth – nurses from the Mandeville Regional and Hargreaves Memorial hospitals, young mothers from the Women’s Centre of Mandeville, teachers from schools in the community, stay-at-home mothers from the community as well as taxi drivers and retirees.
The stay-at-home mothers apart, the graduating batch at the NCU’s Gymnatorium included two taxi operators, eight teachers, 10 retirees, and 61 policemen and women.
President and CEO of the Bank of Nova Scotia William Clarke, in the main address, said the ‘digital divide’, which is the gap in information and technology between rich and poor nations, has to be shortened.
Clarke observed that wealthy nations control 90 per cent of Internet hosts but only 16 per cent of the world’s population live in those countries. Additionally, he said, the rate of Internet penetration in the USA was 68.5 to 112.5 of the population while at the other end of the scale, the ratio was 2.1 to 465 in Kenya.
He told the graduates that their presence at the graduation ceremony was a triumph over the financial, educational and motivational barriers that often prevent individuals from becoming computer literate.
Information technology and computer literacy could create new opportunities for the graduates and take them beyond their current occupations, Clarke said.
The banker donated three computers to the police officers of Area Three and three to the Women’s Foundation of Jamaica (Mandeville).
