Minister of Education and Youth, Hon. Fayval Williams, has commended the University of Technology (UTech) Jamaica and e-Learning Jamaica Company Limited for partnering to facilitate data protection within the education sector.
More than 100 data protection officers were trained over three weeks under the national data protection training programme for schools.
The design and implementation of the curriculum was undertaken by UTech’s Faculty of Engineering and Computing, in partnership with the Education Ministry, and facilitated by e-Learning Jamaica.
This is in keeping with tenets under the new Data Protection Act that will provide greater safeguards for the handling of Jamaicans’ personal information held in physical or electronic format.
Addressing Friday’s (December 1) Training in Data Protection for Educators awards ceremony at UTech’s main campus in Kingston, Minister Williams said data protection in the sector is critical as the education system is one of the largest collectors of personal information.
“Schools collect information on all the children – their names, addresses, parents’ names, age, and immunisation records. I want to thank e-Learning Jamaica and UTech for this collaboration to ensure that the education sector is out ahead of everybody else, probably in terms of ensuring that we will be ready,” she said.
In his remarks, UTech’s President, Dr. Kevin Brown, said “collaborations, such as this training programme between academia and industry, continue to be a win-win model for Jamaica’s development.”
“The university stands ready to lend expertise and practical training on such future initiatives,” he assured.
Meanwhile, e-Learning Jamaica’s Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Lee, said the collaboration shows a clear commitment of all stakeholders to infuse education in schools, but also to build technical capacity.
“Data protection is not only a legal obligation, but also a moral imperative to safeguard the sensitive information entrusted to us within our educational institutions. The responsibility rests with us to ensure that this data is handled with utmost care, respecting the privacy and confidentiality of every individual associated with our schools,” he said.
Mr. Lee also congratulated the officers participating in the national training programme, describing them as trailblazers in data protection.
“Your knowledge and expertise will ensure compliance and foster a culture of responsible data handling, setting precedence of best practices in the education landscape in Jamaica, going forward,” he added.