KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — The Government will be launching the second phase of the Tablets in Schools programme in September.

This was disclosed by State Minister in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Floyd Green, as he delivered greetings at e-Learning Jamaica’s Technology Day at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston today.

He said that an extensive review of the programme was undertaken to inform the way forward.

“We have seen what worked and what did not work. It will be very different, but much more effective, especially in helping us to administer a new curriculum and to help our teachers to do what they love to do, which is teach,” Green said.

Under the one-year pilot project, which began in 2014,  computer tablets         were distributed to some 24,000 students and 1,200 teachers in six pre-primary, 13 primary, five all-age and junior high, and 12 high schools; one teachers’ college, and one special education institution.

The project involves collaboration between the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information; and the Science, Energy and Technology Ministry and is being implemented by e-Learning Jamaica Company Limited and the Universal Service Fund (USF).

Technology Minister, Dr Andrew Wheatley, said under the second phase of the programme, the various security concerns will be addressed.

“We will be putting in place the mechanism to prevent access to inappropriate content,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, Wheatley welcomed the hosting of Technology Day 2017.

The initiative mainly targeted students preparing for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

“It is intended for you to also have fun as you participate in the quizzes and games from the e-Learning Jamaica team, you view the exhibits and see live demonstrations from groups such as the Jamaica College robotics team,” Wheatley said.

Students attending the Technology Day received assistance in preparing for CSEC using e-Learning Jamaica’s VLE, which is an Internet-based learning tool, and from experts in mathematics, English and science.

Among the many exciting activities featured at the event were animated video creation, 3D printing, social media marketing, cybersecurity, website development, graphic designing, mobile app development, robotics and blogging.