LaTonya Linton, Gleaner Writer
THE JAMAICA Information Service (JIS) will launch an online civics centre this year, announced Senator Burchell Whiteman, Leader of Government Business, during his opening presentation in the State of the Nation Debate in the Senate last Friday.
The civics centre will be an interactive website that targets educators and students. The website will provide information to help Jamaicans learn about their role in governance, their rights, privileges and other obligations as citizens in a democratic society.
"I am confident that the teachers and students in all our schools will welcome and benefit from this tailor-made, user-friendly facility," Senator Whiteman said. "The effect will be to strengthen and focus the civics education programme which an earlier generation of students believes to have been weakened by its being embedded within the social studies curriculum."
Senator Whiteman mentioned during his presentation that JIS has formed valuable alliances with the heads of other regional government information services as a result of its use of information communication technologies. He also mentioned that JIS has become a leader in the region in promoting the CARICOM Single Market (CSM).
FOUR MILLION HITS
JIS is an executive government agency that keeps the public informed about issues of national importance. The JIS website receives more than four million hits each month, and has some 240,000 subscribers to its online newsletter.
Senator Whiteman also said the Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC) has successfully launched its Media Technology Institute (MTI).
"The MTI will train Caribbean students in a wider range of media and communications courses. It offers tertiary level programmes geared towards preparing and developing students to the diploma level in video production, voice speech, communication and digital design," he said.
The CPTC has been training media workers and general members of the public for almost 20 years.
