PM donates 120 tablets to four Westmoreland schools

November 20, 2021

PM donates 120 tablets to four Westmoreland schools

Students from four schools in Westmoreland have benefited from a donation of 120 tablet computers by Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, through his Positive Jamaica Foundation.

The institutions are Peggy Barry Primary and Infant, Vision Plus Early Childhood Institution, Enfield Primary and Infant, and Petersfield High School, which each received 30 tablets.

Prime Minister Holness handed over the devices to the schools on Thursday (November 18) during a tour of the parish.

Speaking at Peggy Barry Primary, the Prime Minister informed that the tablets were secured through the efforts of Jamaica’s Consul General to New York, Alsion Roach Wilson.

He said that the donation is in keeping with the Government’s commitment to providing students with access to technology devices to support online learning.

^{Photo contributed – Prime Minister, Andrew Holness (background, third right), looks on as students of Vision Plus Early Childhood Institution in Westmoreland display some of the tablets that he handed over to the institution on Thursday, November 18. He is joined by staff at the institution.}

“The Government has several programmes in place to ensure access. We have access through the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH); ‘Own Your Own Device’ (OYOD), where parents are given a subsidy through a voucher system to purchase devices; and then there is the initiative of the ‘One Laptop or Tablet per Child’,” he noted.

“Now, these particular devices that I am giving you are from that initiative and our Consul General has done an amazing job in raising funds overseas to acquire these devices and I have the privilege of handing them over to you,” he said.

Mr Holness said that tablets are the modern-day versions of “pen and paper”, and students need to have access at all times.

He said that steps are also being taken to expand broadband connectivity.

“I know that many of your students do not have access to the Internet… We are putting in place broadband around the country to ensure that every child will have access to the Internet,” he noted.

Principal of Peggy Barry Primary and Infant School, Koren Fraser-Williams, expressed gratitude for the donation, noting that the devices will go a “far way” in assisting with learning, both in class and online.

“Right now, we have children who are not engaged because of lack of devices, so I know that these will now impact them positively,” she said.