Gov’t using Elon Musk’s Starlink to bring satellite Internet to rural public schools

Minister of Education Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon says the Government has forged a partnership with satellite Internet provider Starlink to connect rural public schools with high-speed services.

Along with that, she said her Ministry is moving to improve the bandwidth of broadband Internet in schools, pointing out that Internet connectivity is not working in some schools.

“I know many of you have the broadband in school and it's not fast enough or not working, so we have done a procurement to get significantly more equipment and also bandwidth for the schools because ultimately the goal is to be able to have Wi-Fi across the entire school campus,” Morris Dixon said.

The education minister, who was speaking at the Jamaica Teachers’ Association’s (JTA) Education Conference being held in Trelawny on Tuesday, assured educators that those broadband issues are currently being addressed.

The JTA conference is being held against the theme “Innovations in Education Technology: The Imperative of Change” and is taking place at the Ocean Coral Spring Hotel.

“We also had a problem with many of our rural schools where it was hard to get the technology in, and so what we’ve done is to partner with Starlink so that we can use satellite technology to deliver the Internet through schools in rural areas,” Morris Dixon said.

According to the minister, several rural schools have so far received satellite internet services under this partnership with Starlink, and more will be connected throughout this fiscal year.

- Albert Ferguson

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