Government is moving towards the use of tablets within the school system, as it seeks to continue its 15-year-old EduTech programme, and keep abreast of changing technology.

This was revealed by Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Ronald Jones, as he addressed the media following a tour of the St. Winifred???s School on Wednesday.

???We cannot, in the presence of technology, keep doing the same traditional methods of teaching. The methodology must change and therefore the access to the technology becomes highly important,??? he stated.

The migration from PCs and laptops to tablets is also expected to bring about the replacement of text books over time. The Education Minister disclosed that the Combermere School had already started the charge in this area, with that institution seeking to use digitised books for students to upload to their tablets.

Mr. Jones further explained that this technological shift came at a time when computers in the EduTech programme had to be replaced or replenished for a cost. However, he noted that using tablets would be more cost-effective.

???Some of them cost the price of one book, $49 to $99, and they do the identical thing that the more posh brand name ones do. You can go for the generic brands that carry the android operating system and are very accessible,??? he maintained.

The Education Minister added that digital white boards and laptops also had to be purchased for teachers, and multimedia projectors also had to be replenished on a consistent basis.

???It has been a costly exercise and it will continue to be relatively costly. But, it is what is needed for learning. If you have your tablet???you should be able to have different software to do a whole lot of things,??? he said.

julia.rawlins-bentham@barbados.gov.bb

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