Students in Grades 7 and 8 in public schools throughout the Territory are expected to benefit from the use of digital textbooks in the classroom.

Minister for Education and Culture, Honourable Myron V. Walwyn said that the digital textbooks will be available for Grades 7 and 8 students with training on the use of the devices beginning this month.

Honourable Walwyn said, “Hard-copied textbooks for students in Grade 9 are now available for purchase at Island Services and there are no issues surrounding textbooks for Grades 10 through 12 as the same textbooks are used for the senior programme.”

The digital textbooks are authored by FortunaPIX in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and Culture and include curricula for Mathematics, English Language, Social Studies, Physical Education, Science and Spanish.

Chief Education Officer, Mrs. Connie George added, “Students having all their notes, textbooks, and having access to different sources for content by subjects in one place is beneficial for ease of learning.”

The digital textbook is designed to work completely offline ensuring that all content within the tablet can be consumed without the use of the Internet. In addition, the online feature of the solution provides teachers with the ability to create digital question banks, use such banks to test those students on-the-go, and generate instant results and analytics; thus allowing teachers to spend significant time in working with students on learning and intervention.

The digital books will be monitored with the help of FortunaPix, the Department of Information Technology and the Ministry of Education’s ICT Unit.

Honourable Walwyn said the digital textbook will be free but there will be an annual fee of $125 for the use of the tablet and the other technological advances that go along with it.

All parents will be required to sign a contract on receipt of the device for accountability purposes.

The Ministry of Education and Culture is committed to creating a “Culture of Excellence.”

Photo attached : Minister for Education and Culture, Honourable Myron V. Walwyn. (Photo credit: GIS/Ronnielle Frazer)