Get proactive in bridging the digital divide

THE EDITOR, Madam:

On Monday night, I watched the news on TVJ in relation to some family members who were being interviewed about their preparedness for the upcoming school year and their accessibility to laptops or other devices for the online learning environment.

I was quite appalled when a few claimed that they had to share devices, as there was not enough for all family members in the household. Further, I read the daily papers yesterday and it was stated that approximately 400,000 schoolchildren are in danger of accessing online learning for this academic school term.

Many years ago while I was pursuing my MBA, my group was given the task of formulating a marketing business plan for a marketing for managers course. I floated the idea of introducing tablets in schools for students from the primary up to the tertiary level and my lecturer thought it was a brilliant concept. I proposed the idea to the then minister of education and the permanent secretary on how we could collaborate and work to introduce this concept in schools, even as a pilot project. However, it did not seem as if they bought the concept, as no responses were given.

I think it would have been a great achievement at the time, because most of the challenges we now face due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic would be basically non-existent over time and we would be ready to face this challenge head-on.

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP

We need to be more proactive as a nation, because I read another news article which states that the Government has committed to assist students, by way of vouchers, who do not subscribe to PATH, yet it can only extend to 36,000 students. I understand that Government alone cannot assist with the society’s problems and therefore, I would suggest there be public-private partnership between the Government and the private sector to tackle this problem before it gets worse.

The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr asked, “What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn’t have enough money to buy a hamburger?”

DANIEL MORGAN