As the new school year begins in Trinidad and Tobago, Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh has clarified several questions that have risen over the People's Partnership education policies, specifically as it relates to laptops for children entering secondary schools for the first time.JYOTI has provided below edited highlights of Dr Gopeesingh's interview:
WHY THIS PROJECT NOW?
Quite simply, because of the genuine socio-political principles in which our Administration is anchored...The computer is now as predominant and common-place as the slate and copybook were in our past.
The computer serves the triple-function of: (1) arming each individual student to succeed in the knowledge-based world;(2) closing the gaps in our national community, levelling the playing-field for all our social sectors and giving each child, no matter their circumstances, an equal opportunity;(3) equipping the Developing Trinidad and Tobago to hold its own in the already Developed World.
Our Administration is determined to offer the Nation’s children an opportunity that most have never had before...Eventually, we shall secure connectivity within homes and amongst families, achieving computer literacy across the land.
HOW WILL THE COMPUTERS BE USED, BY STUDENTS AND TEACHERS?
The computer can help us through most any academic challenge, and the laptop literally takes us over the top, quite easily…with its access to encyclopedias, periodicals, maps, e-books, lesson plans, work-books, quizzes, and handbooks.
WHAT IS THE EXPECTED IMPACT ON OUR EDUCATION RESPONSIBILITY?
We must educate ourselves for the purpose of attaining power, not power for the sake of power, but for the sake of uplifting ourselves above the obstacles that hold us back from being a better people—the negatives as they may appear in class, wealth, ethnicity, colour, gender, age, culture, geography, loyalties, and myths.
The computer, in the hands and mind of a well-instructed teenager, gives him/her a chance to tap into something bigger than themselves.
HOW HAS THE MINISTRY GONE ABOUT MANAGING THIS PROJECT?
Various teams of performers—from technical to administrative personnel—have been mapping out best approaches...working through material thoroughly.
There were also countless criteria-setting and decision-making sessions with external specialists and observers present—such as lawyers and auditors, IT experts, curriculum planners, UWI officials, Central Tenders Board representatives, and fellow-Ministry personnel.
Our Ministry has also been training teachers—some 1,000 of them—who in turn will train others, in technical skills as well as curriculum integration. If all the work were to be captured on old-fashioned paper, it would fill rooms, with filing-cabinets overflowing with documentation.
IS THE PROJECT GETTING ‘VALUE FOR MONEY’, AND IS IT FREE OF SHADOWS?
Oh, totally! That “T” for Transparency has been front and centre with us throughout, to ensure that all transactions are perfectly above board...We started by deciding that we’d go directly to manufacturers to invite them to tender.
From the eight tenders received, we rejected bids from non-manufacturers, bids that didn’t meet primary requirements such as the including of samples, and one bid that presented a security problem. That left us with three acceptable manufacturers: Acer, Fujitsu and Hewlett Packard.
From these, HP emerged as best choice on the basis of meeting the specifications but at the lowest cost. We then negotiated even better terms and conditions. In a wide range of instances we improved the elements, for the same price.
CAN YOU LIST SOME OF WHAT WE’LL GET IN THE HP CONTRACT?
Security applications such as Computrace, which allows us to spot the location of a stolen computer by tracing the IP address when the thief logs on; and it allows us to wipe all material off a stolen computer by remote. Warranties for parts and accidental damage replacement, repairs. Spare parts to be warehoused in Trinidad, so that waiting time is greatly reduced; a repair turnaround time of two days.
SHOULD WE HAVE FOCUSSED ON ‘SCHOOL LABS’ INSTEAD?
We’re actually doing both. All Government schools, Primary and Secondary, use computers and are computer-ready. All Government schools are fully wired—for electricity and internet; and the additional load factor of the laptops will be suitably managed.
All our schools have ‘labs’, admittedly not all large, and not all as well-stocked as we would like. But improvement attention is constantly being given to those facilities, and the laptop project is not being initiated at the expense of the school labs.
ARE WE CONCERNED ABOUT SECURITY FOR OUR CHILDREN, AS WE ARE ABOUT THE COMPUTERS?
Our basic objective is to orient the public in appreciating the purpose, value and importance of these computers for the children...We simply have to believe in ourselves, and in each other.
But not to be naïve, there will be a facility to monitor and control content, via a government network filtering system, and web-filtering. And if nevertheless any anti-social patterns begin to show themselves...we will activate an Adjustment Action Plan or disciplinary procedures as may be needed.
HOW CAN, AND SHOULD, STAKEHOLDERS PARTICIPATE IN THIS INITIATIVE?
Be vigilant, and positively helpful at all times.
WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD?
Our plans extend far into the future, with no intention to start and stop, or to achieve and then retreat. Understandably, there will always be factors such as costs, resources, supplies, and technological developments, which will necessitate adjustments.
But our programme will remain in place and on course—subject to our ongoing results-based monitoring and evaluations.
In practical terms, we see a future for example with the use of e-books, as texts that the laptops will access for children to do their schoolwork.Such an advancement will bring benefits, ranging from savings in book costs to reduction of physical injuries children suffer from toting heavy book-bags loaded with an increasing number of textbooks.
Most of all, the future we at the Ministry of Education see is the one in which we finally win the battle against both unfair social diversity and debilitating mediocrity. Education with computer technology will be The Great Leveller.
The future of Trinidad and Tobago is still ‘in our schoolbags’—except that the schoolbags of today, and indeed tomorrow, carry in them both the contemporary hope of our advancement and the most developed instruments for our enhancement.
For the full interview please visit: Dr Gopeesingh's Facebook page ... or contact the Education ministry's Corporate Communications Division at 868-628-1581
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