Jamaica’s education system is making significant steps which are having a positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of education stakeholders throughout the country.

In the midst of many long-standing challenges, the huge learning loss due to the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic, resource constraints, and external and internal pull factors, the Ministry of Education and Youth (MoEY) is conscientiously improving the teaching and learning conditions for students, teachers, and other stakeholders. Online learning, or learning with the help of mainly electronic devices, has enabled our students to continue meaningful learning engagements while it was not prudent to have face-to-face contact at the height of the pandemic.

Many lessons, good and bad, have been learnt. The MoEY will improve upon the good ones and pull out all the stops to correct the others.

During the height of the pandemic, our education stakeholders built up a tremendous amount of resilience and capacity in technology-mediated instruction. The collective sacrifices cannot be wasted.

We are mindful that a few stakeholders are of the view that blended learning will reduce the importance of teachers. But all objective indicators say otherwise. Mixed-mode instruction, which essentially combines online educational materials and opportunities for interaction online with physical place-based classroom methods, will, in fact, create more opportunities for students to learn and will significantly enhance the teaching and learning experience. Web-enhanced instruction is a win-win for all stakeholders, and hybrid learning is a critical pathway to the future.

Jamaica cannot afford to get left out of the global digital economy. We recognise that our people will transition to the digital economy at different speeds, but transition we must. There is no going back. Consequently, the MoEY will continue to fast-track the equipping of our schools with various electronic tools, notwithstanding the resumption of full face-to-face learning.

MOEY LEADING THE WAY

During the height of the pandemic, many teachers had access to telecommunication services paid for by the MoEY. This was done by way of credit sent to teachers’ phones.

Afterwards, we moved into reverse billing in which the MoEY paid directly to the providers. This was initiated to enable our teachers and students to have greater access to telecommunication services. Simultaneously, the MoEY has undertaken a massive Internet connectivity initiative at all our schools for our students, our teachers, and administrators. To date 216 schools have significantly better broadband connectivity, which is available to our teachers and students free of cost. We aim to have all schools connected to adequate and quality broadband resources within two years.

Our teachers and students also have access to over 200 learning sites free of cost to them.

The MoEY has been working with Digicel to launch a data-rich plan tailored for teachers and students to access interactive tools, training materials, and other online resources.

REMOVING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

The MoEY has been able to significantly reduce the digital divide in the education sector through the implementation of numerous initiatives aimed at providing students with electronic devices, connectivity, and e-resources.

There were many more students with devices at the start of this school year compared to the pre-pandemic school year. This is because increased effort and investments were pumped into the One Laptop or Tablet per Child and Own Your Own Device initiatives and Government procurement of devices.

The One Laptop or Tablet per Child initiative and the Own Your Own Device incentive programmes were launched in 2020. These programmes were designed to promote inclusivity in the education sector and sought to facilitate students’ continued education remotely due to the ongoing pandemic.

Specifically, the One Laptop or Tablet per Child initiative is a partnership with the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) and the Jamaica Stock Exchange. It provides devices for needy students, including those with special needs, students in State care/homes as well as those who are not beneficiaries of the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), while the Own Your Own Device provided the guardians or parents of needy students with a $20,000 e-voucher to be used towards the purchase of an electronic device.

The Government is eternally gratefully to the PSOJ, the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the Diaspora, alumni associations locally and internationally, private donors and friends of education. Jamaica owes you all a tremendous debt of gratitude for collectively helping our children.

Under the One Laptop or Tablet per Child initiative, approximately 26,300 devices valued at $930 million were distributed to our students as of August 2022.

Under the Own Your Own Device programme 29,713 e-vouchers have been redeemed from the approximately 34,000 vouchers issued. The MoEY has so far spent approximately $595 million on the purchase of electronic devices under this programme.

Additionally, teachers in our primary schools have received laptops for their individual use from the MoEY. Our primary school teachers have received, to date, 8,469 laptops representing 95 per cent of our primary school teachers. We are preparing to purchase laptops for teachers at the secondary level. We are pleased that we are equipping our students, our teachers, and our schools with the capabilities for digital teaching and learning and that we are keeping pace with the global digital economy.

GAME CHANGER

These programmes are being complemented by big improvements in the e-book initiative, which was started some three years ago. The MoEY is projected to spend approximately $135 million for the financial year 2022/2023 on this hugely important development. It will benefit all stakeholders in the education sector. We want greater use of e-books. These will improve equity.

Concerns about Internet connectivity and access to e-book resources are being addressed as a matter of priority and the ministry is changing the way it administers the e-books. We are going to be distributing the codes directly to our students. This exercise will be preceded by sensitisation sessions.

When this process is complete, our students will be able to bring their devices to school to access the e-books. Once a resource is downloaded to a student’s device, it is there during the entire school year for their use, any time.

E-resources are game changers in education. This is why the MoEY has invested in some 500 lesson plans on its platform and will be creating more. Our goal is to have lesson plans for all subjects across all grades, while helping our teachers to access and use this vast resource.

Access to quality digital resources by all Jamaicans is a key determiner of our place in the global economy. The Government is fully committed to the development of digital resources at all levels of our education sector as we recover stronger, continue to build resilience, and aim to achieve excellence.

Fayval Williams is the minister of education and Youth.