MORE than 40,000 students and teachers from schools in four education regions are to benefit from Digicel Foundation’s enrichment initiative, aimed at boosting literacy and numeracy at the primary level.
The aim is to train teachers in the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provided by Digicel, to enhance curriculum delivery. A total of 31 schools from regions three to six have been selected to benefit from the programme, beginning September 2013.A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), between Digicel Foundation and the participating schools, was signed last Thursday, at the Ministry of Education’s Region Four office in Montego Bay, St James.Board member of the Digicel Foundation, Joy Clark, said that the programme hopes to reach 40,000 students and 190 teachers, who will be trained to use ICT as a new method of teaching.Regional director, Hilary Foster, and the school administrators welcomed the support. “We look forward to the training of our teachers, and the engagement of parents; the end result will be improvement in the students’ performance. I thank the Digicel Foundation for partnering with us as we seek to improve student learning. This reflects their commitment to education,” Foster stated.Chairman of the Bethel Primary and Junior High School in Hanover, Rev O’Neil Brown, also expressed gratitude to Digicel for “impacting education in an area where we all have concerns. I am thankful for that”.Principal of the St James-based Irwin Primary School, Clive Nelson, said that the enrichment programme is an outstanding one. He pledged that come September, “we all will go out there and make sure that literacy is improved, and the children will get the individual attention that they need”.The enrichment initiative is an islandwide ICT partnership with the Ministry of Education and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in support of the United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of achieving 100 per cent literacy by 2015.First launched in 2009, the project is designed to provide ICT and more individualised instruction for students in grades one through to three, who are experiencing difficulty in achieving their grade level in reading.Digicel Foundation and USAID have invested US $3.7 million in support of the initiative, which involves the provision of computers, software, literacy tools and material.Already under the initiative, enrichment centres have been established in a number of institutions.The programme is hoping to reach 95 schools over the next three years.HOUSE RULES
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Literacy and numeracy boost for 31 schools
