Commissioner of Education Bruce Zagers (right) after presenting the first laptops to a few pupils of Saba’s Sacred Heart School, in the presence of director Diane Wilson (left) and IT teacher Sundiata Lake (in foreground).
Deputy Government Commissioner of St. Eustatius Alida Francis (right) offers the first few laptops to Golden Rock School pupils in the presence of school board president Judith Thomasia (left).
SABA/ST. EUSTATIUS--More than 1,000 laptop computers arrived in Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba last week. Ministry of Education, Culture and Science OCW employees in the Caribbean Netherlands distributed these electronic devices among the schools that applied for them. Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Arie Slob is also enabling schools to offer pupils extracurricular activities to catch up on learning arrears.
During the recent closure of schools in the Caribbean Netherlands as a result of the coronavirus, all schools did their best to continue education as well as possible. Many schools worked with paper homework packages for their pupils and students, usually in combination with education via digital channels. Because not all families and teachers had the necessary tools for this, such as a laptop or tablet and an Internet connection, not all pupils were able to fully participate.
That is why Slob decided to honour the application of the public entities Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba for the financing of laptops for digital distance learning.
“It is important that all students in the Caribbean Netherlands can continue to receive good education during these times when they often work from home. The right tools are crucial in this respect,” said Slob.
While the Internet providers on the three islands offered discounted or free Wi-Fi connections where necessary, an inventory was made per island of how many laptops were needed to ensure that every teacher and student could participate in digital distance learning.
The devices were ordered and shipped to Bonaire, Saba and Statia in collaboration with the cooperative of school boards in primary and secondary education SIVON.
Schools are currently examining how to better integrate E-learning into their education. In addition to the necessary tools, this includes the selection and purchase of digital programmes and software and the promotion of the necessary digital skills for teachers, pupils, students and their parents.
In addition, schools in the Caribbean Netherlands can make use of the OCW subsidy regulation for catch-up and support programmes for education 2020-2021. They can use this additional funding between the start of the 2020 summer vacation and the end of the 2021 summer vacation to provide additional support for pupils and students who incurred a backlog in learning or development as a result of the corona crisis.
