CHESTER SAM­BRA­NO

Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Nyan Gads­by-Dol­ly has con­firmed that 90 per cent of the na­tion's stu­dents are ac­cess­ing ed­u­ca­tion on­line.

Speak­ing dur­ing the bud­get de­bate, the Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter said some 176,000 stu­dents were ex­pect­ed to com­mence school­ing when the new term start­ed in Sep­tem­ber. She said the min­istry has been track­ing the ed­u­cat­ing process and it has been work­ing.

"Based on our week­ly analy­sis of the dai­ly at­ten­dance da­ta and the trends, 90 per cent of these stu­dents are en­gaged in on­line class­es at this time,” the Min­is­ter as­sert­ed, “with the oth­er 10 per cent col­lect­ing pack­age work, whether it is hard copy or by elec­tron­ic means.”

The min­is­ter al­so said that all teach­ers who in­di­cat­ed they need­ed lap­tops were pro­vid­ed with such equip­ment.

She told Par­lia­ment ap­prox­i­mate­ly $100 mil­lion has been set aside in this fis­cal year to pro­vide de­vices and con­nec­tiv­i­ty for stu­dents and teach­ers.

She re­vealed that 5,000 lap­tops al­ready have been dis­trib­uted to stu­dents with spe­cial needs.

The min­is­ter al­so spoke of the pri­vate sec­tor, whom she said has pledged $50 mil­lion worth in de­vices for stu­dents.

"The Adopt-a-School pro­gramme of the min­istry has pledges of over 17 thou­sand de­vices for chil­dren. These de­vices have be­gun to ar­rive and are now be­ing dis­trib­uted around the coun­try to the chil­dren," she re­port­ed.

She de­scribed the re­sponse from the cor­po­rate sec­tor as ex­treme­ly com­mend­able.

Member of Parliament for Tabaquite, Anita Haynes, at her maiden contribution as a member of the House of Representatives, during debate on the 2021 Budget. (Image courtesy Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago)

Mean­while, Tabaquite MP Ani­ta Haynes had ques­tions about the lap­top dis­tri­b­u­tion process.

Dur­ing her con­tri­bu­tion to the bud­get de­bate, MP Haynes ques­tioned whether those stu­dents who are in need are the re­cip­i­ents of the de­vices.

She main­tained that equal ac­cess to learn­ing must be the pri­or­i­ty of every gov­ern­ment.

"And so we must ask that these lap­tops that you are ask­ing for do­na­tions for, are they be­ing dis­trib­uted eq­ui­tably? Are we sure, Madam Speak­er, that the stu­dents who are most in need are the re­cip­i­ents of these de­vices?" the MP queried.

MP Haynes al­so made a case that some school chil­dren in rur­al com­mu­ni­ties would be left be­hind.

She said the My­Fi ini­tia­tive an­nounced by Fi­nance Min­is­ter Colm Im­bert may not be for the ben­e­fit all off stu­dents.

"I have to ask why are you ig­nor­ing rur­al com­mu­ni­ties in this coun­try? When the Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for Moru­ga/Table­land came here and said there was no con­nec­tiv­i­ty, she's not mak­ing that up, you know, Madam Speak­er. It is a fact that if you bring in this My­Fi ser­vice and you don't have 3G and 4G, it will not work. So these stu­dents are still go­ing to be left out," Haynes ar­gued.