CHASE Fund advances technology in early childhood institutions | News
Hundreds of students in early childhood institutions islandwide have stepped into the future of learning with smart boards provided by the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund.
Ninety boards have been provided to 35 schools at a cost of roughly $55 million, under the fund's Technology Enhancement Programme.
The programme, which was established before the pandemic, found further relevance with the reality of wide scale distance learning.
Chief executive officer at the CHASE Fund Billy Heaven, who sat down with JIS News, said the effects of the pandemic echo across multiple sectors.
“While you can see the impact of COVID on health right away with people getting sick, being hospitalised and quarantined, there is also a significant impact on education in general and early childhood education to be specific,” he said.
While CHASE explores commissioning a study on the impact of the coronavirus on early childhood education, the fund has continued work to make up for lost time.
“Kids have lost not only hours in school, but they have missed out on learning a great deal. If the facilities were not there before to accommodate online learning, even now it is difficult for three- to six-year-olds to use this method,” he said.
The Technology Enhancement Programme is focused on optimising student learning, by introducing technology to the classroom.
Project Manager at CHASE Latoya Aquart-Foster said the fund saw the need to assist infant schools with interactive whiteboards to improve the quality of the learning experience.
“They can see visuals, hear sounds, go on the screen and with the touch of a finger, they can move an object from left to right. Before COVID the focus was on interactive whiteboards. Since COVID, we have broadened the technology enhancement program to include tablets and printers for the schools,” she said.
The CHASE Fund has provided over two thousand tablets to schools since the pandemic, valued at over $50 million.
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