$8.2 Billion in education technology investments

The Government has invested $8.2 billion in the provision of technology devices such as tablets and laptops to facilitate teaching and learning, says Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Honourable Fayval Williams.

She made the disclosure as she closed the 2025/26 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (March 25).

Minister Williams informed that since COVID-19 in 2020, "this Government has issued out, free of cost, to students, teachers and installed in classrooms, 198,323 tablets, laptops, interactive panels, projectors and specialised equipment."

Also since 2020, the Government has been rolling out broadband internet service to schools free of cost, equipping about 680 institutions with free Wi-Fi, she noted.

"When we are done, every school will have Wi-Fi inside and outside. That's not a promise; that's a commitment and we back it up with an annual allocation year in, year out," Mrs. Williams said.

"We have 379 community WI-FI hot-spots right across Jamaica," she said further, noting that the number represents 49 per cent of the 775 communities across Jamaica.

At least $1 billion is committed annually towards funding the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Education Policy, which aims to establish an education system in which technologies are integrated into the teaching and learning environments.

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