Parents, students urged to log into online learning

Parents and students have been encouraged to log onto www.learn.moe.gov.tt to access the Ministry of Education’s online learning platform in order to continue the latter’s education in a time of covid19 national restriction including the closure of all schools.

Students can find online learning content, courses and join virtual classrooms daily through content created by teachers.

At a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Minister of State Dr Lovell Francis said the website is “very stable” and can facilitate 1.4 million users at any given time.

He said teachers will be given laptops from school supplies so hosting virtual classes will not be difficult. As online learning is expected to become the “norm” in TT’s education system there are existing challenges that have prevented the kick-start of e-learning for over 60,000 students who do not have a device to access the site.

Dr Francis said he is also aware there are many students without internet access. “That’s a large number and it is going to be a very tremendous cost. We have been looking at our budget to get it.”

He said the Catholic Board of Educators have started their drive to get some devices and the ministry have received funding from UNICEF to purchase devices to assist students without.

The ministry is also in talks with the Ministry of Public Administration to create hotspots in communities where wifi isn’t available.Dr Francis said the ministry has been training and preparing hundreds of teachers for online education for years. “I have great confidence they will be good at navigating what is before them and preparing students in all areas.”

As the pandemic continues unabated, forcing schools to remain closed, Francis said the ministry will ensure teaching continues and students from ECCE, primary and secondary levels all have access to classes.

“We have been preparing for this transformation for two years so our timetable may have been ceased but I assure all students learning will continue.

“The future of education is now; we have not been neglecting the situation on our hands. We have been making sure it is modernise as quickly as possible.

“We were already in the process of increasing the bandwidth at secondary schools and we had signed an agreement with a third party for primacy schools.”

Soon, parents will receive guidelines from the ministry on the best ways to use the platform to help their children get the best results from online learning. “It would a tragedy for us to allow the education system to grind to a halt. One the site you will be amazed about the high-level education contact there, at the tools available, we have our own zoom that won’t cut you off after an hour.”

Now that students will be having less face to face interaction with teachers, Dr Lovell said, “At no time the business of teaching will cease. Children have been home and we have been attempting to keep that teaching and learning ongoing,” he said.