Renewed effort to introduce e-learning in schools

By Aabigayle McIntosh

The government is making a second attempt to introduce e-learning in schools across the country by the start of the new term in September.

Members of the Cabinet have been holding talks with Fortuna Pix, a company that specialises in producing e-learning platforms.

Under the programme to be implemented by the company, the government will introduce approximately 20-thousand tablets for use by students in the secondary and post-primary school system.

Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister’s Officer Lionel Max Hurst said the aim is to target specific subject areas.

“Two subjects that we tend to not succeed in easily are Math and English, we speak Antiguan most of the time and we tend to write that, but that is not acceptable for CXC and CAPE. Students must learn the rules of English and also the phobia which we continue to hold with Math.

“May youngsters returning to school will find that they have tablets and those without tablets will have text that follow the same pattern as what is on the tablets and the teachers will have huge screens in their classrooms,” Hurst added.

FortunaPIX operates in several English-speaking Caribbean countries, including Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Grenada, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, and the British Virgin Islands. Technology deployment is necessary to close that gap between its neighbours and Antigua and Barbuda.

The Ministry of Education and the Ministry with responsibility for technology transfer will collaborate to make this venture a success.