Give computers to primary schools – Rusea’s principal

Western Bureau:

Linvern Wright, principal of the Rusea’s High School in Hanover, is calling for special emphasis to be placed on the provision of technology for primary school students even more so than their high school counterparts.

“I notice that most times when Government is giving computers, the focus is on high schools. I am a high school principal, but I think that is bad policy,” said Wright, while delivering the main address at the official handover of a newly built and equipped computer room to the Cove Primary School by the Hanover Charities yesterday.

“The better policy is to focus on the younger children so that they know it, that when they come to us (at the high schools), they understand it. If you notice, in the homes, when the children have the computers, you do not have to be teaching them when they get older, so the computer becomes a tool to help them to learn in high school,” added Wright.

Using the computer facilities

The high school principal urged teachers at Cove Primary to ensure that the students get to use the computer facilities and not to allow the facilities to become a souvenir.

“I am not saying that the children must mash them up, but the computer is not like a cabinet that my granny used to have, where you cannot use the crockery until visitors come,” said Wright.

He argued that the children must be allowed to use the computers as in three to four years, the software may become outdated.

“By the time they (the Cove Primary Students) come to high school, they should not be learning how to use Word and Excel … maybe the more advanced applications in them because the rudimentary skills in computers would have been learnt in primary school,” noted Wright.