Grenada is learning from the mistakes of other Caribbean Islands with the implementation of its schools’ tablet and laptop initiative. That’s according to Senator the Hon Simon Stiell, as he made his contribution to the 2018 budget on Monday.
The technology focused learning or ‘Tablet for all initiative’ has been the subject of opposition criticism. However, according to Minister Stiell, Grenada will not jump into the implementation of the programme, without first doing significant ground work.
“St Vincent saw the errors of their ways, Trinidad did, when they rushed out, provided everybody with a tablet then realised that without the correct training, without the correct environment it was just a waste of resource and had to recall,” said the education minister.
“There is a programme, $600,000 has been allocated to it in 2018 to upgrade and ensure that as many of our schools as possible have full broadband access etc, to be able to access those technologies,” the government senator explained. In addition, over 100 teachers are being trained in ICT to assist in the smooth transition of the programme in schools. He disclosed that 140 teachers have received training to integrate ICT into the curriculum.
“It’s no good swamping everybody with tablets and our teachers cannot teach or students cannot learn,” Senator Stiell argued.
“Mr President, in 2018 more efforts to ensure that more teachers are developing and delivering lessons with heavy emphasis on the use of ICT tools will be a main focus.”
GIS