The Tribune

EDUCATORS must use the classroom to make critical interventions that will “minimise or eliminate” behavioural problems, Prime Minister Perry Christie said yesterday.

The first $2.2 million phase of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) project INSPIRE has been completed, and the second phase of the project, which will implement $850,000 worth of technology upgrades, was approved last week.

Yesterday, Mr Christie watched as students at Doris Johnson Senior High School, led by Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald, tried out the new technology in the classroom.

During his tour, Mr Christie also urged administrators and educators to take advantage of the new techniques to identify learning challenges that can manifest into negative behaviour and become criminal.

He said: “There is a call, a summons, to expand our capacity to identify symptoms that are wrong. Schools enable us the opportunity to have a captive audience we can employ the latest behavioural research.

He added: “The challenges we face in education did not occur overnight and most certainly we will not fix them overnight.”

Seventy-six primary and secondary schools had their computer and subject-specific labs outfitted with desktop computers, interactive white boards, projectors, lap-tops and related instructional technology resources as part of the initiative.

Project leader Faye Bascom said: “The reality is technology is here with us, it’s not going anywhere, it’s every day.

“In some regard we have lagged in education, that’s what this initiative is all about – not only exposing students who tend to be the ones people would describe as being more tech savvy, but also the teachers.

“And not only teachers, but also education leaders.

“We take a comprehensive approach to creating an e-culture in education.”

Mr Fitzgerald added that security upgrades have been added to ensure that the new tools are protected.

Phase two of the project will allow for more “subject specific” labs and strengthen inter-school networks, and is slated for completion in June 2013.