The Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) has received 1,500 tablet computers from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to support online learning of children in state care.

This comes after an appeal from the Government’s ‘One Laptop or Tablet per Child Initiative’ programme. The devices were handed over during the Transitional Living Programme for Children in State Care (TLP-CSC) ceremony, held at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Regional Headquarters earlier this week.

A 16-seat Toyota Hiace bus has also been donated to Muirton Boys’ Home for children with mild intellectual disabilities.

Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Fayval Williams, in her address at the ceremony.

“Thank you for hearing our appeal in terms of the donation of the tablets. Our appeal is simply this – one laptop or tablet per child across the education system in Jamaica. It is our mandate to eliminate the digital divide,”

she said.

Recognising the threat to equity in the education sector caused by COVID-19, Country Representative, USAID, Jason Fraser, applauded the efforts of the Ministry in equipping marginalised groups with the necessary resources to enrich their learning experience.

“We believe that this initiative at the height of pandemic is an innovative and timely response to dealing with the achievement gaps that some communities in Jamaica face due to the lack of technological resources. We are pleased to hand over these devices to further this initiative…We all want to ensure that the children in State care have access to education in these trying times,”

Mr Fraser said.