The Government is digitising teacher records and data to make access to personal information easier and to smoothen the collection of pensions after retirement.

Minister of Education Fayval Williams made the disclosure during a handover ceremony at Eltham Park Primary School in central St Catherine, where tablets were presented to several students.

The records system is called HR Plus, the minister said.

Williams also sought to drum up support for the national summer school programme which was launched last week.

The state-sponsored intervention is aimed at clawing back the learning loss suffered by thousands of Jamaican children who have missed classes or have had Internet connectivity problems, which brought on new hurdles since the shuttering of schools in March 2020 because of COVID-19.

More than 58,000 students and nearly 6,000 teachers and volunteers have registered for the programme.

In an interview with The Gleaner, principal of Eltham Park Primary School, Conroy Griffiths, endorsed the digitisation push being undertaken by the ministry.

“This programme is a wonderful revelation that is long overdue. This means that teachers’ files will be stored electronically and can be accessed when doing businesses, such as mortgages, loans, and other business transactions. Most importantly, it means that when a teacher retires this month, his or her pension should be ready the following month, as the ministry would have the details readily available. It is a great thing,” Griffiths said.

The educator said that the innovation would spare retirees the effort of physically visiting the ministry and several schools.

Meantime, the recipients of the tablets were told to use them for schoolwork and not for games.

“I just want to let you know that I really appreciate this tablet and it will help me to do my schoolwork,” Markel Williams, a recipient, said.

The education minister said that digital interfacing will remain a permanent fixture of the education sector, even when face-to-face classes resume.

Meanwhile, St Catherine Central Member of Parliament Olivia Grange thanked her colleague for her assistance in procuring computers for several schools in her constituency.