Above: Kingston (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaica’s government says it plans to increase the use of information and communication technology in its education sector.

The plan is part of what it says is an effort to “bridge the digital divide and enhance knowledge.”

“How it is received and how well it is used depends very much on the outcome of capacity building among our teachers and among our administrations in education and indeed, the public at large,” said Education Minister Ronald Thwaites. “The insertion is not mainly for students, although that obviously will be the main focus, but also for the entire community.”

Thwaites was speaking at an “ICT in Education” capacity-building workshop on Monday at the Planning Institute of Jamaica.

“The insertion of information technology into education is not just for the higher forms but must go to the primary level and indeed wherever possible into the early childhood level, so that habits are formed and the competencies are developed,” he said. “This is the kind of partnership we need. The state cannot do it all; it is important that not only do we have the financial but the technical collaboration of our partners … to advance what is the most fundamental concern of the Jamaican state and the Jamaican people and that is the advancement of knowledge.”