Tashieka Mair, Freelance Writer

Executive director of the HEART Trust/NTA, Donald Foster, speaking at the third annual Caribbean Institute of Technology Information and Communication Technology Awareness Week, held at the Montego Bay Civic Centre in St. James yesterday. - Photo by Tashieka Mair

WESTERN BUREAU:

Executive director of the HEART Trust/National Training Agency, Donald Foster, believes merging technology with the education process is the way forward if Jamaica intends to develop and compete in the global market.

He said yesterday that the use of information technology, especially in schools, could be the tool necessary for tackling the deficiencies of the present education process.

"What a transformation that would be, when our teachers are equipped and empowered to use communication, information technology as part of their teaching methodologies," said Mr. Foster.

"If we use the keyboard and that computer as a major tool for literacy training, in no time we can knock the problems of literacy in our country; it can have massive benefits in the education system."

Tasked with the integration

The HEART/NTA executive was the guest speaker at the third annual Caribbean Institute of Technology (CIT) Information and Communication Technology Awareness Week, held at the Montego Bay Civic Centre in St. James.

He said his agency has been given the task of training the teachers to infuse and integrate information communication technology into the teaching/learning process for the E-learning project. The project was implemented by the Government, with an intention of equipping all schools across the island with computers.

"The reality is that there is no country in this world with an educated population that is poor; there is none. So if we are serious about socio-economic development as a people, we have to take the matter of education and information communication technology, the mastery of the digital world, serious," Mr. Foster reiterated.

He lauded CIT for its efforts in training and preparing individuals for the IT industry and said that, with the rapid changes in technology, CIT must be willing and ready to use current and emerging technologies to keep its graduates on the cutting edge.

The ICT Awareness Week activities will run from February 3 to February 8, and will commence with a church service at the Hillview Baptist Church. The activities will also include two days of outreach at the St. James Infirmary and the Ramble Hill Basic School.

The week of events will climax on Friday with a Technology Exposition at the Montego Bay Civic Centre.