Unknown number of children not logging on for school, says Williams
Education Minister Fayval Williams says she cannot tell how many students are currently without devices such as tablets and laptops amid growing concerns that many children have not been able to access online classes since the new school year began on September 1.
“That’s difficult to say for the following reasons,” the minister said during yesterday’s postCabinet meeting. “The Government is not the only provider of devices to students. Parents, friends, relatives of students would have given students devices that we would not have been able to track,” she said.
Williams asserted that the ministry will be in a better position to determine the extent of the digital device gap after the online attendance of students is analysed.
“What we do know, however, is that – and this is data that we track – is the number of students who sign on to the online platforms. Those are numbers that we would track, and we track those last school year, and we will begin to do so as the school year ramps up,” she said.
Williams stated in Parliament last week that the Government has distributed approximately 125,000 tablets and laptops to teachers and students since the pandemic. She also conceded that many students are yet to receive a device.