Hazel plans to computerise Education Ministry

EFFORTS are underway to fully computerise the Ministry of Education, all district offices and schools. This was revealed by Education Minister Hazel Manning on Monday when she delivered remarks at the opening of an Organisation of American States (OAS) sponsored workshop on “Enhancing Teacher Professional Development through the use of New Technologies,” at St Mary’s College, Port-of-Spain. Manning said the objectives of the workshop include a number of initiatives undertaken by her ministry, such as the establishment of the Teacher Professional Development Unit and the development of the Centre of Excellence for Teacher Training (CETT) programme.

Man-ning said, “Exploring and valuing multi-media-based and Internet-based opportunities that can help educators to enhance teacher pre-service or in-service teacher preparation, fit right into the ministry’s plans for the use of the many hundreds of computers being commissioned in all our schools.” She added that the topics to be covered “are parallel discussions that are at present being held with the Information and Comm-unication Technology (ICT) Unit of the ministry. “Discussions that will lead to a fully computerised Ministry of Education, including all schools and district offices.”

The minister said the training in the workshop also strongly supported the Teacher Education hemispheric project, Quality in Basic Education, by preparing teacher educators to show teachers how to access training through virtual courses that will soon be available through the Education Portal of the Americas. Manning said the first course of that nature would be offered from October to December this year for 500 teachers and principals in the Caribbean. She encouraged the participants to share what they learn with each other and to enjoy the learning process. Facilitator of the workshop was Alvaro Galvis of Bogota, Colombia.