Hazel: Ministry moves beyond textbooks

At the launch, held at the Trinidad and Tobago National Commission for UNESCO office, St Clair, Education Minister Hazel Manning appointed 20 members to the committee for a period of three years.

Over the years, the ministry recognised the need to restructure the TEC based on data gathered through continuous monitoring and evaluation.

In addition to the examination of textbooks and other learning materials for use in schools, the LMEC would also evaluate materials used in non-traditional educational delivery systems such as distance education.

In addition, the LMEC is to engage appropriate persons for the review and moderation exercise and ensure that the assessments of all personnel involved in the evaluation are independently made.

In her address yesterday, Manning said schools have moved beyond the printed page to online, multimedia, reproducible books, early learning materials, educational helpers for parents, educational art supplies, children’s books and educational toys and games.

She said the impact of technology on children’s development and the challenges they pose to the activities in the classroom were factors that led the change.

“The traditional classroom, the one you and I grew up in must be transformed, if it is to survive,” she said.

One of the initiatives of the ministry is the development of materials suited to technologically-aided classrooms in which students would be exposed to problem solving and critical thinking.

“At the Ministry of Education, we are moving aggressively to incorporate non-traditional modes of curriculum delivery in learning programmes,” she said. The minister said the textbook rental programme which was expanded from 221,300 books in 2000 to 965,665 in 2003-2004, now includes students at early childhood education centres and students at special institutions.

Angella Jack, permanent secretary, Ministry of Education, in her address said the ministry sought to establish technology-rich classrooms that needed to go beyond the provision of textbooks. These technologies, she said, included audio, video, computers, telecommunications, distance learning and hyper-media which integrates music, text, images, live-action video, spoken voices and animation. Jack added that technology by itself would not be complete without the appropriate teaching strategies, adding that, the ministry had taken steps to improve teacher quality.