HEAD of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Infant and Primary Schools Violet Thomas-Thompson has commended the education ministry for the distribution of tablets to students, but says she is concerned that the devices are not outfitted with SIM cards.

She says students and parents will still face a challenge, in instances where there is no access to broadband connection at home.

“I don’t think proper consideration was given when the tablets were being bought. I think they should have purchased tablets that have SIM cards. If the problem was that the children do not have Internet at home, where are they going to get Internet to use a tablet without SIM card? When parents have a one phone at home with four children going to school, and she gives priority to the child who is in high school, especially if that child is in fifth form, the children who are at the lower level, they suffer,” she told the Jamaica Observer in an interview last Friday.

She noted that if SIM cards are provided, parents could then take on the cost of purchasing data.

The ministry has started its distribution of 40,000 tablets to students on the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), but thousands more are still unable to access platforms for virtual learning, and lessons via free-to-air television are not accessible for some, particularly those in some rural areas where houses are without electricity.

At the handover of tablets at Seaward Primary and Junior High School in Olympic Way last week, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said that the Government is aware of the challenges facing some students, and that some parents will be assisted with funding to purchase devices.

The Government has also stressed that the initiative is a partnership and that it is encouraging parents’ input, including with the purchase of tablets for their children, where possible.

Speaking on the issues facing younger students in the primary-level cohort, Thomas-Thompson noted that in any scenario, not all children will be able to access virtual learning.

“There is no way we are going to reach all the children via those medium. The reality is that some children don’t have a TV, some children don’t have Internet, some children don’t have the devices,” she noted.

Nonetheless, she said the extent to which students are engaged depends on institutional leadership, which, she said, has been on full display in region seven, where her school, Victoria Primary, is located.

“Honestly, they are trying. What I know for a fact is that the teachers at Victoria Primary [in Clarendon], for the students who are not on Google Classroom, the teachers facilitate them on WhatsApp. They send work via text if they have to, and I’m sure a number of schools are doing similar to what we are doing… I know that you have principals who are out there trying their best to reach the students, especially in the rural areas, they are going above and beyond, even without the ministry,” she insisted.

Select schools in nine parishes are expected to resume face-to-face classes today, in a move by the Government to phase in the return of students to the physical school environment. Since the start of schools virtually in October, schools have reported less than 50 per cent attendance of students to online classes.