Recognising that Jamaica still has a far way to go in achieving digital transformation, Hugh Graham, opposition spokesman on science, commerce and technology, has accused the Government of “dropping the ball” due to its untimely implementation of digital transformation strategies.

Making his contribution to the 2022-2023 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on Wednesday (May 25), Graham informed that, had the Government continued the 2013 digital transformation campaign started by the People’s National Party, the country would today be well on its way to becoming an advanced digital society.

“Hindsight is 20/20 vision,” said Graham. “Had we invested in building an advanced digital society before the COVID-19 pandemic, that provided services such as electronic voting, online learning and management of schools, and a robust digital administration to handle the functions of governance, and healthcare when the COVID-19 pandemic came, this investment would have paid off.”

The opposition spokesman noted that digital public services would have continued primarily uninterrupted, instead of the resultant disruptions to vital economic and social services which occurred at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recalling that digital classrooms, online teaching materials and a wide range of online public services were largely foreign territories, prior to the pandemic, Graham argued that “the pandemic exposed the underbelly of our digital divide”.

He added: “The pandemic has revealed our great digital inequality and lack of access for a vulnerable population and the broad masses of our people.

“To blame COVID-19 for all our setbacks is wrong. We are guilty of being neglectful and reactive, and with this gamechanger, the proverbial phrase, we dropped the ball.”

Referencing the 2013 tablets in schools programme which began as a pilot project under the PNP Government, as well as investments in the training of teachers in digital education and internet safety, he noted that had the trajectory of the campaign continued, the country’s education system would have been better off when the pandemic hit.

“In 2020, when the pandemic landed, we would have been at the stage to hand over computers and tablets to students and teachers to access the virtual classrooms from home,” stated Graham.

He added that Jamaica should have had digital resilience, extending to higher education and would have been steps ahead, especially during the pandemic, if such a programme existed.