St James East Central students gifted tablets

WESTERN BUREAU:

Fourteen primary school students from St James East Central are now more empowered to further their education after being gifted with computer tablets by their member of parliament, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, last Friday.

The tablets were handed over to the students during a formal ceremony held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James. The 14 tablets that were given out are from a batch of 20 tablets, which were provided through a donation from the Universal Access Fund.

Ajani Whittingham, a student of Barrett Town Primary and Infant School, told The Gleaner that he was grateful for the opportunity to receive a tablet, which he believes would help him in his Primary Exit Profile (PEP) examinations.

“I feel nice, and I feel thankful because the tablet will give me all the education I need to pass the Primary Exit Profile exam and go to a good school,” said Whittingham, who has his sight set on attending Herbert Morrison Technical High School in Montego Bay. “It was not hard to get my studies done before this, but the tablet will boost me now. It is a good thing to give students tablets to do their work because they can put out the effort needed to pass their exams.”

Dwayne Samuels, a student of Sudbury Primary School, also shared the view that technology can help students to better prepare for school-leaving examinations like PEP.

GRATEFUL FOR DEVICES

“I feel grateful for the tablets, and it is important for us to get these tablets so that persons can learn and pass their PEP exams. This tablet will help me to pass and to get good grades even though I was getting good grades before,” said Samuels, who wants to attend Cornwall College.

During Friday’s presentation ceremony, Bartlett encouraged the students to care for the devices and not abuse them or allow others to misuse them.

“The purpose of giving you these tablets today is not for you to have another toy or another means of getting to YouTube and to get into TikTok and X [formerly Twitter]. It is a means of garnering information and data that you now must use to strengthen your own ability to understand better the community in which you live,” said Bartlett.

“Education is not simply the accumulation of information and knowledge. It is the application of it and the ability to convert it into meaningful, practical things with a value and a price.

“These tablets that we are giving to you are to be used exclusively for educational purposes. You are going to make sure that these tablets are kept in your presence, and do not give them to anybody because you cannot account for everything that other people will do, but you certainly can account for what you do with the devices,” he added.

Since 1997, Bartlett has sponsored and supported various education initiatives in St James East Central with the aim of benefiting students and other young people in the constituency. These initiatives include the St James East Central Scholarship and Welfare Fund, which he started in 1997.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com