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JTA gets funding to provide teachers with tablets

Published:Wednesday | July 18, 2018 | 12:00 AMJodi-Ann Gilpin/Gleaner Writer
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Rudolph Brown
JTA president-elect Dr Garth Anderson (left) and Science and Technology Minister Dr Andrew Wheatley (second right) present a tablet to early childhood educator Shaunette Baugh-Wilson, while Philmore McCarthy, principal of Excelsior Community College and chairman of JTA Education and Research Committee, looks on. The occasion was the launch of the JTA STEM workshop in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, and Loma Linda University at the Excelsior Community College in St Andrew on Tuesday.
Rudolph Brown
Educators attending the Jamaica Teachers’ Association STEM workshop put on by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information in collaboration with Loma Linda University, at the Excelsior Community College on Mountain View Avenue in St Andrew on Tuesday.
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Minister of Science and Technology Dr Andrew Wheatley has committed to providing $US40,000 (J$5.2m) to the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) to be used to procure tablets for educators.

Speaking at the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workshop hosted by the JTA this week, Wheatley said that it was important that teachers were equipped with the necessary tools to ensure that they were able to compete globally.

"As the ministry, we are doing our part to supply the technology to our schools. We are making sure that we fully work out the tablets-in-schools project by September. So, teachers, we will be equipping you," Wheatley declared at the event, which was held at the Excelsior Community College in St Andrew.

Wheatley also said that he expected the tablets-in-school project to enhance leadership skills among teachers, noting that it was important that a change in the mindset among citizens occurred as the Government sought to revolutionise the technological landscape.

"We must begin to see it [STEM] as a viable career path and a way of providing some solutions to our many socio-economic problems. In fact, the programme that we are running through the USF (Universal Service Fund) seeks to train young people in basic IT (information technology) skills," Wheatley said.

jodi-ann.gilpin@gleanerjm.com