Aranaputa to benefit from internet access – residents, teachers welcome initiative
DPI, GUYANA, Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Minister of Public Telecommunications, Catherine Hughes urged the residents, teachers, and students of Aranaputa to take advantage of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) services which will be brought to the village, to expand their businesses and enhance their education.
This charge was delivered as the community outreach continued in Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo (Region Nine) on February 16, 2018.
Headteacher of Aranaputa Nursery School, Leona DaSilva.
“If you have a student here [Aranaputa] that wants to do Biology but you do not have a Biology teacher, that student could connect to any classroom, Queen’s College, the Bishop’s High, any of the schools in Georgetown and do the same class and to be able to do the same exam and get the same certificates we encourage as part of the education process.”
She said connectivity in the region is vital to education more now than before, given the fact that the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) requires that School Based Assessments (SBAs) be done online.
Headteacher of the Aranaputa Nursery School, Leona DaSilva welcomed the initiative. “If we have this system it would be better for our children who are doing Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) or even other research at the Primary school …maybe you’re doing a biography of someone, there is nothing here that you can go in the school and get but surely if you go on the internet you will get it.”
Once internet access is provided to the village, the headteacher said students will be able to get their CSEC results in a timely manner as well.
Minister of Public Telecommunications Hon. Catherine Hughes is greeted by Chairman of Aranaputa, Region Nine, Adon Jacobus.
Other challenges in the execution of the National Curricula were also highlighted, which Minister Hughes committed to addressing at a ministerial level.
“There is definitely a huge disparity so the commitment of this government is to bridge that gap.”
The Public Telecommunications Minister informed that the plan is to have preloaded digital textbooks on storage devices and on the laptops provided to the villages, which will make access to learning for students and teachers easier.
Turning her attention to entrepreneurship, Minister Hughes provided practical examples of how products such as the peanut butter and packaged peanuts can be sold in other communities and Georgetown utilising the internet.
Phillip Walcott, Director, Community Development and Social Management of the National Data Management Authority (NDMA) committed to partnering with the coordinators of the Hinterland Employment and Youth Service (HEYS) programme to provide ICT training for participants.
Training in the use of computers and other programmes that will be preloaded on the systems will be made available to all residents.
Residents of Aranaputa during a community outreach.
By: Stacy Carmichael