IPads may soon be allowed in schools –ministry official
Secondary school students may soon be using iPads and similar electronic devices in the classroom to access learning materials.
GINA said that eighty-two secondary schools in Regions Two, Three, Four, Five and Six are now connected to the Government’s E-governance (E-GOV) 4-G LTE infrastructure network and are able to access Wi-Fi and internet services.
Head of the MIS Unit at the Ministry of Education, Yoganand Indarsingh, in a recent interview, noted that the connection has been placed in close proximity to the Information Technology (IT) laboratories in the secondary schools, allowing for the computers in the laboratories to have access to the network and the internet.
According to Indarsingh, wireless routers in the computer labs would allow students with iPods, iPads and similar electronic mobile devices access to the network.
Indarsingh said the service would be made available to whatever instructional technology is being used within the schools as part of the curriculum and not only for student preparing their School Based Assessments.
The World Bank-funded Secondary School Improvement Programme includes a mathematics pilot project that targets Grade Seven students at a number of secondary schools. The project also provides electronic tablets for the students. Indarsingh told GINA that these students would use the E-GOV connection to access the internet on their tablets.
The E-governance Unit would apply a filter to ensure that only appropriate content will be accessed by the schools.