All teachers' colleges to get tablets Education Minister Ronald Thwaites said yesterday....However, while the Tablets in Schools project has been having positive effects, the minister admitted that there was also a negative side.... DO YOU THINK THIS IS MONEY WELL SPENT?

BY ANIKA RICHARDS Online/health co-ordinator richardsai@jamaicaobserver.com

Tuesday, January 27, 2015  

ALL teachers' colleges will this year receive tablets under the Tablets in Schools project, which began last year with a pilot in 38 educational institutions, Education Minister Ronald Thwaites said yesterday.

 Education Minister Ronald Thwaites

"In the pilot, the Ministry of Education didn't choose the schools, but Sam Sharpe was one of the teachers' colleges that got tablets," said Thwaites. "This year, all of the teachers' colleges will, because you can't have the students getting it and the teachers are not," he added.

In fact, the education ministry is moving to have all the needed books, starting at the primary level and including the basic texts at the secondary level, uploaded to tablets.

The minister made the disclosure yesterday while speaking to reporters and editors at the Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange at the newspaper's Beechwood Avenue headquarters in Kingston.

"The ministry's decision to make more textbooks available in e-book format is to facilitate the widespread use of computer tablets in schools. In addition to students who receive tablets as part of the e-Learning project, the ministry is encouraging parents to acquire these devices and we will place the e-books on them," Thwaites said. more