Caribbean’s first digital school to be launched soon

As part of the government’s vision of creating a modern digital economy, President, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali will soon launch the establishment of the Caribbean’s first digital school – right here in Guyana.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) will be integrated into this innovative learning concept, allowing Guyana’s future leaders to be technologically oriented.

This is according to the Minister of Education Priya Manickchand when she appeared on ‘The Guyana Dialogue’ Thursday evening.

“COVID taught us all that the premier way of delivering education remains a teacher in front of the classroom…. but we also learned that we could amplify what we’re doing…through both physical presence as well as the infusion of technology and technology aided learning…

“And so, in next two or three weeks… President Ali is going to be launching the Caribbean’s first Digital School,” Minister Manickchand said.

According to the education minister, the project will require new legislation to enable students to choose between in-person and digital learning.

“All of our curriculum will be uploaded, and he’s opening this school to the wider Caribbean. So, we’re actually working with a company out of India to build that out, and that’s being done robustly now,” she assured.

President Ali unveiled this innovative initiative during a special session of Parliament, where he outlined what the project entails.  To ensure effective learning, the school will be equipped with the necessary online textbooks and teaching materials, catering to entrepreneurial skills, cultural education, and electronic nursing and accounting.

Not only are Guyanese to benefit, but students in other CARICOM states will be eligible for enrollment.

Under the PPP/C Administration, Guyana has already embarked on delivering digital education to the Guyanese population. A One Guyana Digital Initiative was recently launched where more than 2,000 Guyanese are being trained for promising careers within the technology sector.

The 150k Coders Initiative is another transformative project that aims to nurture Guyanese to take advantage of opportunities that will arise in the evolving technological world.

Moreover, the Guyana-Coursera platform is now empowering 400,000 Guyanese with free access to 6,000 courses at an annual cost of US1.4 million.