If the Ministry of Education had embraced technology in a greater way, says philanthropist Aron Truss, then it would have been able to make an easier transition to the digital teaching environments now required because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Truss is a co-founder of the Aron and Christina Truss Foundation, which has distributed between 6 000 and 7 000 tablets to public primary school students since its launch in 2009. He said that last year alone, 1 000 tablets were donated.
He said despite their efforts, the ministry did not make enough of an effort to incorporate the technology into the curriculum.
“This is not a reflection of the current Minister of Education, this is the ministry as a whole. It’s good to finally hear people in the Ministry of Education finally talking about online learning and technology.
“We’ve been doing this project for a decade but there has been no real interest from the Ministry of Education to become involved. We provided devices to students. Many principals and teachers have incorporated the devices into the curriculum and class time but that has been done on an ad hoc basis. Other than the nice speeches and talk about technology, there has been no actual taking advantage,” Truss said yesterday. (TG)
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