Speaking at the Rotary Club of St. Andrew's weekly luncheon at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston, last Tuesday, Mr. Paulwell said the laptops would help ensure that every secondary school achieved broadband Internet access of at least one megabite per second.

The Technology Minister said the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture was receiving a further $50 million to make it fully online in preparation for the project run by the specially-created e-Learning Company.  He added that the new information technology (IT) available under the project would include video-conferencing in the classrooms and between schools.

"We believe that they need to be able to carry these things (laptops) home so they can do work out of the office," Mr. Paulwell said of teachers, whom he added would receive additional IT training.

TENDERING TO BE SCRUTINISED

"This is a lot of money and we have to spend it wisely, we have to spend it carefully," he said of the $1 billion dollar per year, three-year project.

Mr. Paulwell said the Contractor-General's office was part of a committee formed to ensure tendering withstood scrutiny.

The e-Learning Project is being financed by the universal service levy, a tax made on calls incoming to Jamaica.  Approximately $260 million had been raised by August 1, since collection began on June 1.

Mr. Paulwell said more than $500 million in collections was being forecast for the six-month period ending December 31.

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