Dear Editor,

It is true, as Leahcim Semaj is credited with having said, that a crisis is too good an opportunity to waste. In its editiorial on June 9 calling on all to find the opportunity in the crisis, the Observer lists education as one of the three most important needs for civil rehabilitation and social reconstruction of Tivoli, with special emphasis on the inculcation of values, civility and models of behaviour in the early childhood years. I totally agree.

The opportunity I see in this crisis is the possibility for the implementation of a new way of teaching children in these early years, using media – radio, TV, computers – in an at-home programme for mothers and children from birth to three years. This programme would not only introduce children early to words and numbers, but would also involve parents in the sharing of information, language, behaviours and values. The added advantages of early parental involvement in their children’s education include continued parent/teacher involvement as the children progress through the school system and a higher level of intellectual development of both children and parents alike.

Education by digital means has become the advanced way globally to deliver knowledge. Most top universities, including MIT, enable digital education. The One Hundred Dollar Laptop programme created by Nicholas Negroponte of MIT and co-sponsored by the UN and Microsoft, is one programme I would like to see Jamaica tap into, especially in a pilot project for a unique self-contained community like Tivoli. An at-home education programme, especially with computers and the Internet, flows students seamlessly into the working world with computer skills at their fingertips. Another advantage is that digital learning can provide opportunities for retraining the labour force, using similar online classes to teach any and every subject.

Tivoli is a closed community with its own facilities and amenities. It already has an excellent secondary school that was the first to use the online Click-a-Tutor programme. We could take this into the living rooms of the Tivoli village and help improve and increase the opportunities of the children growing up there. Tivoli could truly become a model community as a pilot project for a new form of education delivery as an expansion of the present model.

This is the opportunity I see in this crisis and I offer my knowledge and services to help make this change.

Barbara Blake Hannah

jamediapro@hotmail.com