MONTEGO BAY, St James – Fourteen primary and high schools across western Jamaica were among 25 such institutions that recently benefited from a donation of ICT equipment valued at over $5 million from a project spearheaded by the Cornwall College Old Boys’ Association Mid-Atlantic chapter (CCOBAMA).

The equipment, which included Cisco switches, access points, desktop computers, iPads, laser printers and server racks, according to the newly appointed chairman of the Cornwall College school board, Dr Richard Meggo, forms part of “nation building.”

“Cornwall College has always been about nation-building and this is a continuation of our involvement in nation building,” he said at the handover ceremony held at the Montego Bay school last week.

Meggo argued that while the initiative started with Cornwall College, other schools played important roles.

“This initiative, as I understand it, started with Cornwall but became infectious because Maldon High, as I understand, also got some equipment and shared from what they had; so they are also doing their part for nation-building… and if COVID-19 has taught us anything, it is that collaboration is key and is necessary if we are all going to succeed,” he argued.

“If one fails we all fail, so that is the basis for Cornwall College and the other institutions that are involved, and this is not the last time we will have this,” Dr Meggo stressed.

Meanwhile, school principals Lavern Stewart of Anchovy High and Harry Hanson of Cambridge High, both in rural St James, were grateful for the donation which they said would enhance the quality of the education offered at their schools.

Stewart told the Jamaica Observer West that while she was not sure about all they were getting, having not seen the list, noted, “we are always in need of ICT equipment, we are terribly ill-resourced where that is concerned. We need computers, we need switch systems and I know for sure the switches are part of the gift and they will definitely be of great help.”

She pointed out that the gift will further enhance the gains made by the school in the area of ICT over the last two years.

“Since we went into the pandemic we have done a great deal of work in terms of our ICT resources and this gift will further enhance all the work that we have done,” she said.

“We have since made our school fully Wi-Fi compatible all across the plant, it is just that the system that we get from our provider is sometimes just not as predictable as we would want it to be, it is not stable at times. Nonetheless, we have made tremendous strides in terms of what has happened with our ICT resources, and the pandemic has really pushed us into that sort of modality, but this [gift] will further enhance what we have built out in terms of our resources.”

Hanson also expressed gratitude for the gift.

“We are getting routers, switches and modems and what that will do for us is to help us to expand our Wi-Fi connectivity across the school,” he told the Observer West. “Therefore, it will enable teachers and students to better tap into the virtual learning spaces and to continue the use of ICT in the classrooms. As it is now, we have on the compound sufficient data coming into the site, but we will use these equipment to widen the reach so all students and all teachers will have access.”

He said, however, that the school is still hoping for more assistance.

“There will still be needs and we are hoping that as the partnership continues we will get our students closer to the ideal 21st-century classroom,” he stressed.

The western based-schools who received the equipment were Albion Primary and Junior High, Herbert Morrison Technical High School, Montego Bay High School, Mt Alvernia High School, Westwood High School, Cornwall College, Green Island High School, Cambridge High School, Montego Bay Infant School, Knockalva High School, Corinaldi Primary, Anchovy High, Maldon Primary School, and Maldon High School.