The Universal Service Fund (USF) has committed to assist with restoring two computer labs at Bustamante High School in Clarendon, following a devastating early-morning fire on Tuesday (September 24).
“They had 130 laptops in it, and they are gone, but we have to rebuild. When things like that happen, it makes you very sad because it is a step back. We have a commitment from USF to rebuild, so we will do that,” Minister of Education and Youth, Hon. Fayval Williams said.
The blaze also resulted in the loss of two projectors, a server, an uninterruptible power supply and several desks and chairs.
Minister Williams was delivering the keynote address during Thursday’s (September 26) Rotary Club of Kingston luncheon meeting held at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, under the theme ‘Basic Education and Literacy’.
Up to May, the Ministry had distributed 10,000 laptops to high schools as part of a programme to replace aged computers in technology laboratories.
Minister Williams underscored that schools need to be safer for students and teachers.
“Gone are the days when the communities protected schools, when school was a sacred ground – you wouldn’t dare cut through school to get to where you are going and you wouldn’t go to take things from the school,” she said.
Minister Williams admitted that times have changed and to increase safety and security, school administrators are requesting perimeter walls or fences and security cameras.
“Many of our schools were constructed many decades ago, some more than a century ago, and over the years there has not been that level of investment going into school infrastructure,” she stated.
Mrs. Williams said that schools need to be modernised very quickly to adapt to climate change and the impact of that in terms of rising temperature.
“We have a lot of work to do not only in terms of improving the educational outcomes but improving the physical infrastructure in which our children have to learn, and teachers have to teach,” she stated.