Rollout of tablets in high gear

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson (2nd right); and Minister of Education, Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites (right); applaud as Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Hon. Phillip Paulwell (left), presents a tablet computer to Haile Selassie High School student, Tarique Salmon. Occasion was the handing over of tablets to students of the school on September 29, under the Government’s $1.4 billion Tablets in Schools pilot project.  Tarique’s mother, Vinnel Lawson (2nd left), also shares the moment.
Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson (2nd right); and Minister of Education, Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites (right); applaud as Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Hon. Phillip Paulwell (left), presents a tablet computer to Haile Selassie High School student, Tarique Salmon. Occasion was the handing over of tablets to students of the school on September 29, under the Government’s $1.4 billion Tablets in Schools pilot project. Tarique’s mother, Vinnel Lawson (2nd left), also shares the moment.

The distribution of tablet computers to students under the Tablets in Schools Pilot Project (TISPP) is now in high gear with hundreds of students having received their devices over the last three weeks.

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller was on hand for the distribution of tablets to students on Haile Selassie High School last Monday, September 29. Haile Selassie High which is in the Prime Minister’s constituency became the first high school and the first school in the Corporate Area to receive the devices.

The rollout of tablets to students under the commenced on September 11 with a distribution exercise at Salt Savannah Primary and Infant School in South East Clarendon. Salt Savannah was followed by Cavaliers Primary in West Rural St Andrew on September 17.

The TISPP is a collaboration between the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining (MSTEM) and the Ministry of Education and is being implemented by e-Learning Jamaica Company Ltd (e-LJam) and the Universal Service Fund (USF). Parents and guardians accompanied their children to the schools where they were required to sign an agreement outlining the care and proper use of the devices.

Under the year-long pilot project, students and teachers in 38 educational institutions will receive some 25,000 tablets. Teachers in the pilot institutions have already received their devices and have undergone training in the integration of technology in education in order to effectively deliver lessons in the classroom.

It is expected that some 600,000 students and their teachers will receive devices when the project is fully rolled out after the pilot.