Technology and education
Minister of State in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining, Julian Robinson, says more needs to be done to promote equity across the educational system.
Making his first public address at a Science and Technology Workshop organised by the Mutual Building Societies Foundation (MBSF), under its Centres of Excellence programme, late last week, Mr. Robinson said the Jamaican educational system bore similarities to an apartheid system.
“We have to find a way in the country to level the playing field, because it can’t be that the circumstances of where you were born, and where you were raised, allows you to end up in a particular type of school…and you end up with a second rate education,” he told teachers from the six rural-based Centres of Excellence schools at the function.
“The use of technology is one way of levelling the playing field. The kid from the inner city, who has access to technology and can go online and do research, can be on par, certainly in terms of access, with the more affluent student. That is clearly what we have to do as a Government,” Mr. Robinson said.
The State Minister said technology will help prepare students for the future; and, therefore, schools should ensure that students, particularly those from lower socio-economic groups, are equipped with the confidence and skills to use the technology.
He revealed that the government will be introducing new technologies in classrooms, under the E-Learning Programme, and said that, “Investing in Information Communication Technologies (ICT) is the most important thing Jamaica can do at this time.”
Mr. Robinson proposed that students should be trained to “become innovators rather than mere manipulators of technology,” and he urged teachers to use the technology efficiently, to enhance learning in the