Carisa Lee

The Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion is cur­rent­ly con­sid­er­ing a pro­pos­al to Cab­i­net to pur­chase lap­tops for stu­dents to as­sist with on­line class­es.

The con­fir­ma­tion came from the new­ly-ap­point­ed Min­is­ter of Ed­u­ca­tion Dr Nyan Gads­by-Dol­ly who told Guardian Me­dia noth­ing has been fi­nalised as yet.

“Yes, one is cur­rent­ly be­ing con­sid­ered,” she said of the pro­pos­al.

“The equip­ment has not been or­dered. The pro­pos­al has to be sub­mit­ted and con­sid­ered by Cab­i­net that has not been done at this time,” Gads­by-Dol­ly said.

The ex­act num­ber of lap­tops be­ing con­sid­ered for or­der was not con­firmed.

How­ev­er, back in April the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion found that ap­prox­i­mate­ly 60,000 stu­dents could not ac­cess on­line class­es.

Our sources put the fig­ure at 120,000.

“Now that I don’t have a com­put­er or a lap­top or any ac­cess to in­ter­net it’s hard to cope,” one form three stu­dent told Guardian Me­dia back in April.

On March 13, the Prime Min­is­ter an­nounced the clo­sure of all schools as the coun­try dealt with the first wave of COVID-19.

Stu­dents were re­quired to ac­cess the class­es on­line through the School Learn­ing Man­age­ment Sys­tem.

For­mer Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Tim Gopeesingh blast­ed the Gov­ern­ment for the sus­pen­sion of the lap­top pro­gramme back in 2015 and the han­dling of the ed­u­ca­tion sec­tor dur­ing a pan­dem­ic.

Dr Goopeesingh said the Gov­ern­ment took a ret­ro­gres­sive step by sus­pend­ing the pro­gramme adding that if it con­tin­ued, 60,000 stu­dents would not be un­able to ac­cess on­line class­es.

Since March, schools have not phys­i­cal­ly re­opened, ex­cept for stu­dents sit­ting the SEA ex­ams.

Class­es will re­main closed for the rest of the year.

The Min­is­ter will meet with stake­hold­ers lat­er this week to en­sure that class­es can re­con­vene in Jan­u­ary.

“Pri­ma­ry on our agen­da right now is the start­ing of teach­ing and learn­ing,” she said.

TTUTA’s pres­i­dent An­to­nia Tekah-De Fre­itas said she is look­ing for­ward to meet­ing with the new min­is­ter in the com­ing days.

Tekah-De Fre­itas told Guardian Me­dia the re­open­ing of schools in 2021 will be de­ter­mined on how the case­load looks then.

“We all need to take per­son­al re­spon­si­bil­i­ty and fol­low the pro­to­cols,” she said.

She agreed that the pro­vi­sion of lap­tops to stu­dents can as­sist with the re­sump­tion of class­es in Jan­u­ary 2021.

“The is­sue of pro­vid­ing lap­tops is a crit­i­cal one,” she said.

Tekah-De Fre­itas said even if face-to-face class­es re­sume, lap­tops should be pro­vid­ed for stu­dents who do not have.