Jamaica to launch remote-learning courses

Jamaica's education minister plans to use computers to offer long-distance math and literacy courses to students who live in remote parts of the island.

Ronald Thwaites said Friday that the pilot programme will be introduced in the next few months and will target elementary and high school students. He did not provide details or say how much the programme will cost.

Thwaites has long criticised teachers for providing inadequate instruction in those areas.

He has said that only about 60 per cent of students in fourth grade master English. Many opt instead to speak Jamaican patois. A Government study also has found that only 105 math teachers out of a total of 1,048 are qualified to teach the subject at their level.

AP