By Robert Andre Emmanuel
Hoping to boost e-teaching across the twin island state, the Cabinet met with two technicians from FortunaPIX, a US and India based e-learning tech company.
According to the Cabinet notes released yesterday, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry responsible for technology transfer will be collaborating to see several digital books becoming available to students and teachers to use alongside the regular print material.
The Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Ambassador Lionel Hurst told reporters yesterday that the government will be looking to bring this onstream during the next academic year.
“After the summer holidays, many of the youngsters returning to school will find that they have tablets and those without tablets will have texts that follow along the same patterns as what’s on the tablets and the teachers will have huge screens in their classrooms that will allow those who are not,” he said.
Fortuna Pix has over 400 experts in academics and technology, developing an educational platform called OneLern—built to “enrich learning experiences globally by accelerating digital transformation through disruptive technologies and adaptive learning solutions.”
According to the Cabinet notes, OneLern will set up a Champion Team, which will have representatives from each school to implement an “adoption and engagement strategy.”
The addendum attached to the notes also stated that following a pilot study of the OneLern platform in 2023, it was recommended that all primary schools begin to use the platform.
“FortunaPIX is committed to both secondary and primary schools developing customized offerings for Antigua and Barbuda validated by local curriculum officers and teachers ensuring significant savings to the Ministry of Education and Board of Education,” FortunaPIX said in the addendum.
The government, for years, have been trying to move the education system in the country onto a e-learning platform with numerous initiatives undertaken.
Meanwhile, the government said it was also discussing the promotion of science, technology, education and mathematics (STEM) subjects in the classroom with AI teaching being discussed by Cabinet officials.