Contributed
Students at Cross Primary and Junior High School in Clarendon, and other participants, use their new computer lab, complete with high-speed Internet service, which was equipped by the Cable & Wireless Jamaica Foundation (CWJF) in collaboration with Teens 4 Technology under the Computers For Schools programme.

Continuing its drive to facilitate the infusion of information and communications technology in education, Cable & Wireless Jamaica Foundation (CWJF) has donated 630 computers to educational institutions across the island and continues to provide free Internet service for numerous schools, community facilities and skills-training entities.

Working in collaboration with Teens 4 Technology, CWJF has spent more than $8.7 million on its Computers For Schools programme, which was launched in December 2006. Under this initiative, 63 mainly primary and all-age schools have received 10 computers each and free high-speed Internet access, subject to availability. A further 45 institutions will receive similar allocations within the next four months.

Benefiting schools

Among the benefiting schools is Albert Town Primary where the majority of the 600 students enrolled had little or no exposure to computers prior to the CWJF's intervention. "Just a small number of our students were able to use computers before we set up our lab," said Dorothy Murray, the school's principal.

She added, "Now that we have our computer programme going, it is really enhancing learning because the students are so excited you can literally see it. They work hard at their computer lessons because they're very motivated."

Bevon Ferguson, principal of Alps Primary School, described a similar situation. "We had a few computers at our school before, but not for the students to use so getting those 10 computers has been a very positive thing," he said.

"The students are excited but, more importantly, they're becoming computer literate which is very important for their future," Ferguson added.

At the community level, CWJF has set up nine fully sponsored cyber centres covering the parishes of Kingston, St Andrew, St Catherine, St James and St Mary. Equipped with 10 computers each and high-speed Internet access, the cyber centres are filling an important void for the citizens in the communities they serve who were previously among the most underserved with regard to information technology.

Last year, two new facilities came on-stream - one at the Bethel United Church in St Mary, and the other at the Truth Tabernacle Church in St Catherine - bringing affordable Internet access to several communities in those parishes.

"It is very rare to have something like our cyber centre in this part of the country," Reverend Leo Hall, minister of the Bethel United Church, said.