KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Government says it has started the onboarding of 362 schools that are in close proximity to its fibre infrastructure.

Minister of Education and Youth, Fayval Williams, made the disclosure during a statement to the House of Representatives, yesterday.

Of the 362 schools, connectivity work has started in 43 schools and 30 schools have been fully connected. 

“For the remaining 661 schools that are not in close proximity to the Government’s fibre infrastructure, we are far advanced with a national procurement of Internet supply for our schools,” Williams said.

Additionally, the Ministry is advanced in the plan to upgrade the networking capability of schools, so that there is Wi-Fi access in all classrooms to enable teachers to manage a blended environment in which some students will be in the virtual environment while others are in the physical classroom on a rotational basis. 

Williams also noted that even as the Government works to eliminate the digital divide in terms of access to devices, improved connectivity, affordable data plans, this school year, the Ministry will be tackling the various other inequities in the education sector.

“The most serious [is] knowledge inequity, that is, the gap between those students who are high-performing or high-achieving and those who are not,” she said.

The Ministry noted that it has partnered with the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology and the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation to develop an affordable and robust approach to the provisioning of adequate Internet connectivity to all public schools.