ST JAMES, Jamaica— Some 5,000 public school educators could commence receiving electronic vouchers (e-vouchers) to purchase laptop computers in December, under the ‘Laptop for Teachers’ programme, being developed by e- Learning Jamaica Limited (e-Ljam).

Project Manager for the ‘Own Your Own Device’ initiative at e-Ljam, Seymour Rhoden, said that the e-vouchers will enable teachers to visit an approved vendor location to purchase a laptop that meets the entity’s minimum specifications.

He said that teachers will receive the e-voucher via email or SMS text messages.

Rhoden said that the list of teachers slated to benefit under the initiative will be provided by the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Information.

“Once that is done… the data will be uploaded into the ‘Own Your Own Device’ system and vouchers issued to the intended teachers,” he noted.

“The [Laptop for Teachers] programme is not yet live; it is actually being developed with changes being made to the existing ‘Own Your Own Device’ system to facilitate the distribution of vouchers to the teachers. We anticipate that the programme will be coming on stream by possibly December of 2021. This is pending finalising of the system and having all other supporting systems in place,” Rhoden outlined.

 Speaking in St Elizabeth recently, Minister of Education, Youth, and Information, Fayval Williams, said that teachers at the primary level will be the first to benefit under the Laptop for Teachers programme.