Dear Editor,

The novel coronavirus has left the scholarly community in disarray as we have been forced to challenge the status quo and remain high achievers with limited resources and small amounts of motivation.

As a university student, my time spent in online classes may be quite different from that of my brothers who must confine their attentions to their 6-inch phone screens. I would like to use this medium to call this to the attention of the minister with responsibility for education, youth and information, Fayval Williams, and her supporting state minister, Robert Morgan.

The tablets programme just rolled out by the Ministry of Education may be a great initiative in a vacuum, but such an initiative only considers a small portion of the student populace, thus placing a great number of the young minds we have the responsibility to nurture at an obvious disadvantage. For this reason, I propose a partnership among Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Ministry of Science and Technology, and the parents of our primary and high school students. The partnership will see parents/guardians, through the schools in which their children are enrolled, commit to covering 60 per cent of the cost for tablets, with the respective ministries subsidising the remainder. Once that 60 per cent has been paid, parents will be issued the tablets to assist with the learning process.

As for the importation of the tablets, I recommend that tariffs be removed from these items so as to further subsidise the cost encountered by parents/guardians.

This recommendation stands on the premise that not all students in need are registered on the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), and so these students need not be excluded from the opportunity. As for actions taken for those students on PATH, I commend the efforts by the Government and stand by their decisiveness thus far.

It is my belief, however, that a cooperative effort from all parties could help to bridge an enormous gap, and further help the Government’s efforts in creating a brighter tomorrow for the nation’s children. Of course, this is just a recommendation, and may need necessary tweaking before being able to be enacted or delivered. But the considerations made here are indeed real.

Steven Palmer

Civil engineering student,

The University of the West Indies, Mona

stevenpalmerjm@yahoo.com