Education, Youth and Information Minister, Fayval Williams, says with the suspension of face-to-face classes, greater emphasis will be placed on the acquisition of devices to strengthen online learning.

She was speaking at the handover of 100 tablets by Stone Plus Limited at the Ministry’s Heroes Circle offices in Kingston on Wednesday.

She thanked Stone Plus Limited for the tablets, which will be distributed to schools across the parishes of St Thomas and Westmoreland.

“Thank you for hearing the appeal and stepping forward to make your contribution. It is going to be an ongoing initiative. Our goal is to ensure that all of our students have a device,” she said, noting that technology will remain an important part of the modern education system.

On Wednesday, the Minister announced that only students preparing for exit examinations will be engaged in face-to-face teaching. These include grade-six students, and pupils from grades 11 to 13.

 “Unfortunately, where we are in the pandemic, with the increase in the numbers, we have had to make adjustments… . Everybody else now will have to revert to the online environment,”

the Minister noted.

Business Administration Manager, Stone Plus Limited, Saccherine Chin, lauded the Government for lunching the initiative to provide needy students with essential technology devices and urged other entities to “get on board to make a difference”.

“Let us show the world how resilient we are as a people. These are our children. This is our legacy and future. Let us join in the effort to preserve it,”

she said.