The Tablets in Schools Project is expected to continue for the near future, with close monitoring which will continue to ensure its success.

“We agree in the Ministry of Education and in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining that the Tablets in Schools programme will be monitored… But there is no way we are going to turn back the future of technology among our students,” the Minister of Education Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites stated recently.

He was addressing a ceremony to officially launch the new school year and open the Fidel Castro Campus of the Anchovy High School in Montpelier, St. James.

The $1.4 billion TIS Pilot Project involved the distribution in the last school year of 25,000 tablet computers to teachers and students in 38 educational institutions islandwide, including early childhood, primary, secondary and special schools, as well as one teachers’ college.

Addressing a function at the University of the West Indies (UWI) earlier this year, Minister of Science Technology, Energy and Mining, Hon. Phillip Paulwell reported outstanding achievements at several schools, in which the pilot programme has been implemented.

“The experiment has been tremendous, so far…especially at the pre-primary and primary levels. We find that, almost overnight, the reading skills have improved, also the level of confidence on the part of the youngsters…and (there has also been an) increase in the morale of the teachers…it really has been quite tremendous,” Minister Paulwell said.

[adapted from the Jamaica Information Service (JIS)]