As the new school year got off to yet another virtual start on Monday (September 6), Education Minister Fayval Williams in her back-to-school address, reiterated the Government of Jamaica’s commitment to “leaving no child behind.”

In her virtual address on Sunday (September 5) Williams stated: “For this academic year, we will redouble, triple, quadruple our efforts to reach our students who were unreachable last year. We must remain true to our mission of not leaving any child behind.”

The 2021/2022 academic year, which officially begun on September 1 with teaching slated to begin on September 6 is expected to see students islandwide being engaged via a variety of modalities.

These include online or computer-aided learning, audiovisual, that is television and radio learning as well as teaching through printed learning packages or kits.

In addition to these modalities the ministry has also introduced the use of audio learning apps which may be downloaded to students smart devices.

Williams noted that two 24-hour television channels have been launched, one for primary-school students and the other for secondary schools.

These channels will feature live and recorded lessons 24 hours a day, seven days per week. 

Meanwhile, Williams said that the government will continue with the initiatives started during the last school year, to equip each student with a device to access online learning.

“We start this school year with more devices in the hands of our children and teachers than at any other point in our history, significantly reducing the digital divide in the education sector,” said Williams.

She added: “Let us leverage the technology skills that you, our teachers and students, would have gained during the school year recently ended, to move forward confidently in this digital age.”