KINGSTON, Jamaica – Minister with responsibility for Information Robert Morgan says the Government sees internet access as a human right that should be available to citizens wherever they reside.

It is for this reason that the Administration, through the Universal Service Fund (USF), is providing free secured Wi-Fi to unserved, under-served, and rural communities to facilitate greater digital inclusion.

Addressing the launch of the service in Beckford Kraal, North Central Clarendon on Friday, Minister Morgan, who is Member of Parliament for the area, said that “the students in these communities deserve internet just as well and as good as students in Kingston or any other urban area”.

“I see people sitting down in their bedroom working in Asia, I see people doing their assignments on the bus because they have good data. They are not better than the students who live in these communities,” he noted.

Encouraging the residents to make good use of the service, he said that a major focus must be on education.

“[This is] a big part of the reason why every single Wi-Fi hotspot is near a school. We think that if we situate the Wi-Fi in the community square, close to our schools, then students who have their tablets can go on their Google Classroom and they can download the assignments so that they don’t have to pressure their parents for data,” Morgan said.

A total of 89 communities across Jamaica are being equipped with internet access under the USF’s Community Wi-Fi project.

– JIS