Holness

WESTERN BUREAU:

Minister of Education Andrew Holness is urging Jamaicans to become more technologically advanced if the country is to achieve economic development and compete successfully with other nations.

Speaking at the official opening of a $30-million computer lab at Corinaldi Avenue Primary School in Montego Bay on Wednesday, Holness cited rapid development in the information and communication technology (ICT) industries in countries such as India, South Korea and Malaysia as part of the template for achieving First-World status. The Jamaican Government has set itself the target of achieving developed-country status by 2030.

The education minister said primary- and secondary-level children should be taught the importance of information technology if the gap between developed and developing states are to be closed. "If you look at the world today, all the countries that are rich or progressing very quickly have invested heavily in their human resource to ensure that they narrow the digital divide," the minister stated.

Information

"They ensure that their young people understand the fundamental concept that wealth is now not necessarily generated in factories, but is generated by having property rights over information and then using that information to model the real world and create solutions."

Holness said access to computers and the Internet among the Jamaican population was below optimal levels. Tax breaks on personal computers, a policy implemented under the previous People's National Party administration, have made them more affordable, but they are still out of reach for many working-class citizens. Many Jamaicans who do not own a computer or do not have Internet connectivity, however, gain access at workplaces, schools and computer kiosks.

About 1.5 million Jamaicans have access to the Internet. The minister lauded sponsors of the project at Corinaldi Avenue Primary for their efforts to provide access to students. Holness also urged teachers to cultivate in children a passion and interest in ICT that transcends the classroom and provides the foundation for career pursuits.

"We don't only want to be consumers of technology, but we want to be producers of technology," he said. "So in teaching your students about the computer, try to get them, from the outset, exposed to the software programming that goes behind the computers because that is where the value in computers lie."

100 computers

The computer lab, which received majority sponsorship from the Tryall Fund and the Doctor's Cave Bathing Club, will facilitate students from Corinaldi Avenue and Barracks Road primary schools. The state-of-the-art lab is equipped with 100 computers, a projector and air-conditioning units.

Shanae Bowen, grade-five Corinaldi Avenue Primary student, told The Gleaner: "I think the opening of this lab means that we can find new ways of learning and it will help those students who have homework and research to do, but don't have access to computers or the Internet at home."