Basseterre, St. Kitts, May 28, 2020 — SKNLP NextGen SKN candidate for St. Christopher 8, Dr. Terrance Drew, has given an assurance that a NextGen Labour Party administration will reinstate the one-to-one laptop programme for students in the Federation.
“Young people must have easy access to information technology and all must condemn the Timothy Harris PLP/CCM/PAM coalition and its Minister of Education Hon. Shawn Richards for stopping the programme when they assumed office in 2015, and depriving our children and students of this important educational and research tool,” said Dr. Drew.
The programme was jointly funded by the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Government. All high school students from Forms 2 to 5 received laptops prior to September 2013, and in November 2014 over 1,500 new Dell 3340 laptops were distributed to all Form 1 students. Deputy PM and Minister of Education Shawn Richards stopped the programme on record, stating it was “a waste of time and resources.”
Shadow Minister of Education Dr. Geoffrey Hanley is also committed to returning laptops/tablets to Secondary and Primary Schools, stating that “the laptops will belong to the students and teachers and will not be on-loan.” The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis had the highest percentage of internet users in the Caribbean according to World Development Indicators 2012.