TTUTA: Education initiatives must be sustainable

PRESIDENT of the TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) Antonia De Freitas says she is happy with government’s pledge to purchase and distribute laptops, tablets and personal hotspot devices to students. However, she believes these initiatives must be long term.

“What we are satisfied with, in the first instance, is the provision for professional learning for teachers to operate in this context,” De Freitas told Newsday. She said rolling out the "excellent initiatives" comes with a certain responsibility to maintain sustainability.

“We must have maintenance and replacement options available to parents and students (as well as) contractual agreements for parents and students to be responsible for these devices.”

The union head also said she hopes the removal of taxes on devices does not mean a price increase, which she said was reported a few weeks ago. She added that the association hopes there will be an increase in allocations for the upgrade of primary and Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) schools.

“Funding does not always go in a timely manner, so we hope it will be (this year).” Minister of Finance Colm Imbert announced a provision of $50 million in this year’s budget to purchase and distribute laptops and tablets for needy students.

In addition to the devices, the government will also be providing 45,000 students with personal hotspot devices, named Internet MiFi, using 3G and 4G mobile phone network, to be shared among mobile devices such as smart phones, laptops, and tablets.

De Freitas said she is waiting to see how trade schools will be rolled out. She said because students use the Caribbean Vocational Qualifications (CVQ) given by CXC, she is curious as to how government will approach trade schools.

The CVQ is a competency-based approach to training, assessment, and certification as it relates to a specific occupation or industry. She said the CVQ allows students to move across the region for job opportunities.

“We have to wonder now of the implementation of the trade schools will align with objectives of CXC. We have to wait and see how that will align with technical vocational education. We would want to get further information on that and see how it develops.”

President of the National Primary Schools Principals Association Lance Mottley said the budget's initiatives are in alignment with previous requests made by the association, particularly for the removal of taxes on learning devices.

He said the association is pleased with the allocation for laptops and tablets. “This is welcomed news,” he said. “However, we would have been much happier if measures were in effect immediately and not for next year.” On the promised internet MiFi initiative, Mottley said, “We await to see how it will be rolled out.”