(By Ernesto Cooke) – The National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission will help up to 1000 students with data as online classes continue.
According to an analysis of secondary schools’, finance minister Camilo Gonsalves said that 15 percent of students don’t have the internet at home.
“They may have a tablet due to the government program, but no internet to get online to participate in class and do all the work necessary”.
Gonsalves said there is a program to assist with such.
“First thing we did was to work with the telecoms providers, so even without data on a sim card, they could attend classes via a platform called Microsoft teens”.
Gonsalves says with the use of the platform, the data becomes zero-rated, so a student would not burn through their data for attending classes there”.
“The Second thing we did is that Digicel has provided a special rate for sim cards used with the tablets, so this is where you can get data for twenty dollars per month”.
Gonsalves said in his discussion with the NTRC; they have agreed to provide the twenty-dollar sim cards to about 1000 students in the first instance.
“This will be done for the school terms, and more would be said soon from Apollo Knights head of the NTRC, as to how families could apply”.
Gonsalves said if students receive the NTRC subsidy, the regulatory body would be paying for the data plan for the remainder of the school year and possibly beginning the next school term.
