In a ma­jor mile­stone for the in­ter­sec­tion of cul­ture, tech­nol­o­gy, and ed­u­ca­tion, the Dig­i­cel Foun­da­tion has launched ten new Tech­nol­o­gy in Ed­u­ca­tion (TIE) Cen­tres at pa­n­yards across T&T.

These TIE cen­tres are de­signed to pro­mote life­long learn­ing, dig­i­tal lit­er­a­cy, and skills de­vel­op­ment —not on­ly for steel­band mem­bers, but for the wider com­mu­ni­ty in un­der­served ar­eas.

This marks the third year of the Dig­i­cel Foun­da­tion’s TIE pro­gramme, and the sec­ond year fo­cused on out­fit­ting pa­n­yards in part­ner­ship with PanTrin­ba­go and lo­cal steel­bands.

The new cen­tres are lo­cat­ed at High­landers, Roy­al Stars, Tokyo, San­gre Grande Cordettes, Skif­fle Bunch, Di­a­ton­ics, Nut­tin Big, West Stars, and Des­per­a­does Steel Or­ches­tras in Trinidad, and at RBC Re­demp­tion Sound Set­ters in To­ba­go.

Each pa­n­yard has been equipped with five desk­top com­put­ers, er­gonom­ic desks and chairs, a mul­ti-me­dia pro­jec­tor, Nin­ten­do switch and TV, print­er, and one-year free in­ter­net ac­cess cour­tesy Dig­i­cel Plus.

Speak­ing at the Des­per­a­does TIE Cen­tre launch on March 25, Dig­i­cel Foun­da­tion CEO Pen­ny Gomez high­light­ed the in­spi­ra­tion be­hind the pa­n­yard ini­tia­tive: “A piv­otal mo­ment in our jour­ney came when the To­ba­go PAN-thers ap­plied for a grant to es­tab­lish a com­put­er lab in their pa­n­yard.

This part­ner­ship un­der­scored the im­por­tance of non-prof­it or­gan­i­sa­tions iden­ti­fy­ing the gen­uine needs of their com­mu­ni­ties. It al­so il­lu­mi­nat­ed the ex­cit­ing pos­si­bil­i­ties that arise when we con­nect cul­ture and tech­nol­o­gy.”

The TIE cen­tre pro­gramme has re­ceived wide­spread sup­port and praise, with Min­is­ter of Sport and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment Sham­fa Cud­joe-Lewis de­scrib­ing the ini­tia­tive as “a mean­ing­ful in­vest­ment in our peo­ple—trans­form­ing tra­di­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty spaces in­to mod­ern hubs for em­pow­er­ment.”

PanTrin­ba­go pres­i­dent Bev­er­ly Ram­sey-Moore added: “We are ho­n­oured to be part of this na­tion­al ini­tia­tive that brings tech­nol­o­gy and ed­u­ca­tion di­rect­ly in­to our pa­n­yard…we be­lieve in the pow­er of pan, and now, with the pow­er of tech­nol­o­gy, we’re build­ing a stronger fu­ture to­geth­er.”

The pro­gramme has been par­tic­u­lar­ly sig­nif­i­cant for To­ba­go, which now has three cen­tres with cut­ting-edge dig­i­tal tools and train­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties avail­able to the is­land’s pan com­mu­ni­ty.

The TIE Cen­tre at RBC Re­demp­tion is ex­pect­ed to host af­ter-school pro­grammes, com­mu­ni­ty work­shops, and skills train­ing fo­cused on youth and at-risk pop­u­la­tions.

“As a To­bag­on­ian and a di­rec­tor of the Dig­i­cel Foun­da­tion, I’m es­pe­cial­ly proud to see this ini­tia­tive come to life here at RBC Re­demp­tion,” said Georgina Pe­terkin.

“The TIE cen­tre is not just about tech­nol­o­gy, it’s about cre­at­ing ac­cess, bridg­ing gaps, and em­pow­er­ing our com­mu­ni­ties through ed­u­ca­tion. This is a space where cul­ture meets op­por­tu­ni­ty, and where the next gen­er­a­tion can dream, learn, and thrive right here in To­ba­go.”

The Dig­i­cel Foun­da­tion has, thus far, in­vest­ed $733,000 in 19 TIE Cen­tres at pa­n­yards na­tion­wide. Steel­bands are en­cour­aged to ap­ply dur­ing the next Call for Ap­pli­ca­tions to help ex­pand the reach and im­pact of this trans­for­ma­tive ini­tia­tive.