(EMU) – St. Kitts, February 25, 2019 -- The Ministry of Education has recently renewed its commitment towards the development of a policy to implement ICTs in the National Curriculum.
A representative from the Catholic University (CU) in Washington DC was in the Federation on a fact-finding mission for the development of an ICT Policy in this regard over the period February 18-22.
This mission was headed by Dr. Martha Cruz following her initial visit in 2017. Dr. Cruz stated that the CU has since distributed and received recommendations from various stakeholders within the Federation on how they think ICT can be utilized in the classroom.
Thus, the findings were presented on this mission and feedback on said findings was received.
“It’s an exciting point because we have heard the stakeholders, we know that this is something that all of us should embrace and that is why the Ministry of Education needs the support of the community at large,” announced Quinton Morton, Education Planner.
Mr. Morton further divulged that from the meetings, the Ministry is poised to fulfil its mandate in the Education Sector Plan 2017-2021, Policy Goal 2 which seeks to: Strengthen the quality and relevance of education at all levels to improve learning outcomes. “We’re at the point now where we begin to make decisions on what an ICT policy for St. Kitts and Nevis would look like,” Mr. Morton revealed.
The Education Planner stated that even though the Ministry engaged the Catholic University on this initiative, some initiatives have been implemented otherwise that will certainly enhance this agenda.
The recently enacted contract with ‘The Cable’ Internet Provider that increased bandwidth across all the public schools in St. Kitts, renewed licensing for Office 365 and the implementation of OpenSIS and training for staff in program. “These initiatives are working two-strand: one, we want to ensure the delivery of education, that is the teaching learning process and also in management of the teaching learning process,” stated Mr. Morton.
Dr. Cruz explained that she now has a better understanding of the local education sector, the economy and society and is now eager to assist in the development of the Policy. She stated that from the sessions she has had, the teachers respond positively to action. Dr. Cruz therefore applauded the Ministry for procuring some ICT tools. “One of the constraints is the resources available, but I am very happy to hear the progress the Ministry has made in procuring resources for the use of ICT. That includes upgrading the labs at schools, improving the internet connectivity and also acquiring tablets and other devices. We are now going to discuss how they can be utilized in the inclusion on ICT in the classroom.”
The ICT integration initiative will now focus on creating the framework for the ICT Policy and establishing targets and goals. The creation and implementation of pilot tests for specific initiatives geared towards teacher capacity and helping students grow are currently underway.
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