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Last Updated: Mar 25, 2017 - 3:06:40 PM |
Minister of Education, Science and Technology the Hon. Jerome Fitzgerald.
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NASSAU, The Bahamas – Digitization of textbooks is on the horizon for public schools. The Hon. Jerome Fitzgerald, Minister of Education, Science and Technology made the announcement during the official launch of the Bahamas Primary Mathematics series on Thursday, March 23, 2017 at SuperClubs Breezes.
“In the public school system we are educating 75-80 percent of the student population. You can imagine the requirement or the need for us to provide text material. It is overwhelming from year-to-year,” he said.
“If I return as the Minister of Education, one of the primary functions and drives I will be pushing in the next term is moving our text to a digital platform. It is required, necessary for us to ensure that there is equity throughout the system.
“One of the requirements I will be insisting upon is that we work out a mechanism where we have it digitally and whatever the cost of the publisher for the rights, we work that out ahead of time. That is my expectation and as the world changes we have to adapt and understand where the world is moving.”
Moreover, Minister Fitzgerald revealed that the final stages of a $16 million loan are being negotiated with the Inter-American Development Bank to revamp all Science labs, the curriculum, and production of textbooks.
“We are moving in that direction where we know that engineers, persons in computer science, coders, programmers are really the sphere -- where we see countries focusing on them, their economies are growing faster than others.
“We have to ensure that our young people are getting what is required at the basic level. If you can’t read you will have a difficult time being good at mathematics. So we have to ensure that the literacy level is improved,” said Minister Fitzgerald.
The new primary Mathematics textbook series is a public/private effort and was specifically designed for Bahamian schools. It is “culturally” relevant and was published in conjunction with Hodder Education.
© Copyright 2017 by thebahamasweekly.com
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