Three ICT Ac­cess Cen­tres have been for­mal­ly opened in Maitagual, Mar­aval, and Tacarigua. The cen­tres are part of the on­go­ing part­ner­ship be­tween the Min­istry of Sport and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment and the Min­istry of Dig­i­tal Trans­for­ma­tion. 

The cen­tres will pro­vide un­der­served or ICT-ex­clud­ed com­mu­ni­ties with in­ter­net ac­cess, free print­ing ser­vices, ac­cess to gov­ern­ment ser­vices, in­for­ma­tion, and on­line ed­u­ca­tion­al train­ing re­sources which al­low the res­i­dents to con­tin­ue their ed­u­ca­tion and build pro­fes­sion­al skills and com­pe­ten­cies. 

The fol­low­ing is a press re­lease from the Min­istry of Dig­i­tal Trans­for­ma­tion: 

Maitagual, Mar­aval, and Tacarigua are the three lat­est com­mu­ni­ties to ben­e­fit from state-of-the-art ICT Ac­cess Cen­tres, which have been for­mal­ly opened this month. These are lo­cat­ed in­side three new­ly con­struct­ed Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tres, and are part of the on­go­ing part­ner­ship be­tween the Min­istry of Sport and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment and the Min­istry of Dig­i­tal Trans­for­ma­tion. 

The Maitagual Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre, lo­cat­ed in Pe­tit Bourg, San Juan, was opened on Wednes­day Sep­tem­ber 14, 2022. The Tacarigua and Mar­aval Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tres are set to be opened this week, on Wednes­day 28 and Thurs­day 29, Sep­tem­ber re­spec­tive­ly. 

These Cen­tres com­prise a to­tal of six (6) brand new Ac­cess Cen­tres which have been opened by the Min­istry of Dig­i­tal Trans­for­ma­tion be­tween May and Sep­tem­ber, 2022, and a to­tal of twelve (12) Cen­tres now avail­able across Trinidad. 

Each ICT Ac­cess Cen­tre fea­tures Hubs where vis­i­tors may ‘Con­nect and Cre­ate’ and ex­plore train­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties which en­cour­age them to ‘Ed­u­cate and In­no­vate’. The fa­cil­i­ties, equipped with desk­top com­put­ers, lap­tops and print­ing fa­cil­i­ties, will pro­vide un­der­served or ICT-ex­clud­ed com­mu­ni­ties with in­ter­net ac­cess, free print­ing ser­vices, ac­cess to gov­ern­ment ser­vices, in­for­ma­tion, and on­line ed­u­ca­tion­al train­ing re­sources which al­low the res­i­dents to con­tin­ue their ed­u­ca­tion and build pro­fes­sion­al skills and com­pe­ten­cies. 

The Ac­cess Cen­tres are al­so staffed with res­i­dents em­ployed from with­in the com­mu­ni­ties or sur­round­ing dis­tricts. They can of­fer train­ing and sup­port to cus­tomers who may not be fa­mil­iar with or con­fi­dent us­ing com­put­er de­vices or go­ing on­line. 

Speak­ing at the Open­ing Cer­e­mo­ny of the Maitagual Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre on Sep­tem­ber 14, Per­ma­nent Sec­re­tary of the Min­istry of the Dig­i­tal Trans­for­ma­tion, Richard Madray, said the ICT Ac­cess Cen­tres are about more than com­put­er and Wi-Fi ac­cess. “I firm­ly be­lieve that this will add sig­nif­i­cant val­ue to the res­i­dents of Maitagual and en­vi­rons, and re­in­force the good work of lo­cal or­gan­i­sa­tions. Your ICT Ac­cess Cen­tre can al­so serve as a gate­way to raise aware­ness of Maitagual in the wider na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty and be­yond.” 

The Maitagual Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre was opened by the Min­is­ter of Sport and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment, the Ho­n­ourable Sham­fa Cud­joe, and Min­is­ter of Health and MP for St. Joseph, Dr. the Ho­n­ourable Ter­rance Deyals­ingh. The up­com­ing com­mis­sion­ing of Tacarigua and Mar­aval will al­so be at­tend­ed by the MPs and Com­mu­ni­ty Coun­cil rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the re­spec­tive com­mu­ni­ties. 

The open­ing of ICT Ac­cess Cen­tres across Trinidad and To­ba­go is in keep­ing with the Min­istry’s promise to en­sure that all com­mu­ni­ties with­in Trinidad and To­ba­go can par­tic­i­pate in a Dig­i­tal So­ci­ety, Dig­i­tal Econ­o­my and Dig­i­tal Gov­ern­ment. In bridg­ing the dig­i­tal di­vide, the Min­is­ter of Dig­i­tal Trans­for­ma­tion, Sen­a­tor the Ho­n­ourable Has­sel Bac­chus has pledged that ac­cess will not mere­ly mean cov­er­age and ac­cess to broad­band as a pub­lic good, but that no one is left be­hind. 

Dig­i­tal Lit­er­a­cy train­ing, through part­ner­ships with the Adult Lit­er­a­cy Tu­tors As­so­ci­a­tion (AL­TA) On­line Pro­gramme, and the YTEPP Lim­it­ed, will al­so be con­duct­ed at the Ac­cess Cen­tres, to en­sure per­sons are con­fi­dent in us­ing dig­i­tal tech­nol­o­gy. Oth­er train­ing part­ner­ships with the Mi­crosoft Phil­an­thropic Group and oth­er or­gan­i­sa­tions are al­so sched­uled to come on stream be­fore end of year. 

The Min­istry has com­mit­ted that by the end of the year, fifty (50) ICT Ac­cess Cen­tres, phys­i­cal and/or vir­tu­al, will be op­er­a­tional, un­der con­struc­tion, and/or ap­proved for con­struc­tion.