Minister for Information Telecommunications and Constituency Empowerment Ambrose George has declared that Dominica has the potential to become the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) center in the Caribbean.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the National eLearning Symposium on Monday morning, George indicated that by ensuring that every child has access to the necessary educational and ICT tools to succeed, Dominica can be well on its way to be a leader in ICT.
“ICT must be used as the enabling tool to ensure educational success and thus we must vigorously pursue the learning and the teaching of ICT and its related subjects in every school and educational institution in Dominica taking advantage of the benefits derived from the telecommunications liberalization process which Dominica has pioneered,” he said.
He added that the opportunity to educate children of Dominica must be embraced.
“Our education strategy has called for us to be a nation of smart and intelligent people and we seek to uphold such an ideal by utilizing the power of telecommunication and ICT technologies to ensure that our citizens remain fully literate and on the leading edge of education in the region,” he stated.
Director of Telecommunications in Dominica, Bennette Thomas said that the eLearning Symposium marks a historical occasion in our education system as Dominica is poised to revolutionize the delivery of education.
“Education is the key to individual advancement and institutional development and as such the role of eEducation in the efficient and effective delivery in the school curriculum is fundamental to students learning. The continued emergence of new and innovative technologies in ICT are critical to the development of our students,” Thomas said.
He noted that ICT is a tool to be used to advance the education of our people and it is therefore important that educators and policy makers take a vigorous role in ensuring that students are in line with the modern technologies of current time.
Less talk. More action
Minster George said
““Our education strategy has called for us to be a nation of smart and intelligent people and we seek to uphold such an ideal by utilizing the power of telecommunication and ICT technologies to ensure that our citizens remain fully literate and on the leading edge of education in the region,”
Contrary to what most of the commentators on this news item had to say, Dominica and the Caribbean, stand to benefit from being late comers to ride this technological tsunami that is gathering even greater strength.
To fail to prepare one’s citizens, particularly the young, to swiftly and smartly grasp the present opportunities that the exposure to the information and communication technologies and networking opportunities provide, and that that exist in the present climate would be folly.
Sure, Dominican, Ron Abraham was visionary when he sought to have the telecommunications monopoly crushed, but it seems that many have still have not yet caught the vision.
By being open minded, sensitive to criticism, and the ability to be innovative, are some of the hall marks of great INTERNET entrepreneurs. For once, someone who wants to help one’s self can do so, as long have you have basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills.
While I concur that the government may not have its finger on the right button, but by humilty will learn the ethics of being a citizen of this new world. Yes, it is the government’s duty assist you by laying the infrastructure, and providing as much cash and hardware as is possible, however, opportunities abound for self enrichment, exploration and empowerment. For instance type in your favorite web browser, “Free ICT lessons for adults” and see what results are returned. And while your at it, try searching for any topic that interests you. That is the power of an interconnected world.
We are heading towards the age of the Internet of Things where everyone and everything will have an IP address, where information is not only read but consumed. Where wealth will be counted not in billions, but in Tera billions.
With the right management of technology, your market place for your services and products is not restricted to the boundaries of your region, but is unbounded in possibilities.
Let us seize the day.
Georgie still has his mind on the rotary phones
My ‘X’ is to discard you whenever election is held. USELESS!
Lol he must be dreaming. Dominica telecommunications still stuck in the 80’s and it doesn’t look like there is anything being done about it. What’s the point of educating the youth on something that has shown little or no growth over time in the country.. ..
and there are folks deinking the kool aid
I am wondering aloud how many glasses of “Soca” and “D-Special” George drank before making that speech?
By the looks of things, my guess would be quite a few.
These guys just continue to talk foolishness. It’s like a disease.
Makes no sense to me…need to restructure from the Top. We need to first change the director of ICT, Jermaine Jean-Pierre. Her contribution is meaningless. Just like we reshuffle ministers we need to get a new person in this post and other post that can contribute meaningfully..
LOL WE DONT EVEN HAVE 4G to support the full potential of the mobile devices we have….this man coming here with his cock and bull story wi…
stupppppppppppeeesss … man go shake that bag of coal somewhere else..
How does one reach to that conclusion when we don’t have proper ICT infrastructure in place to become a player is this environment must less for a leader.
More rhetoric than the eyes can see and the ears can hear.
George knows that his time is up, so he drop the RED TIE.
I wonder what sort of technological information Dominica has to give to the world.
What potential does Dominica, have and what sort of technology research have we done, and on what we are doing to have these finding to share with the world?
No longer are Dominicans listening to such sweet sounding meaningless nonsocial rhetorical garbage; if you wish to emphasis education do so!
It is essential that every child get a good scholastic education now that we are in the 21st century, math and science should be paramount, since the world have long been living in an age of science and technology, whereas in Dominica agriculture is still the main focus.
It is one thing to spew garbage to people who may lack understanding, but to those of us who analyze people rhetoric, word for word knows when we are reading baloney.
The word “information” shall be defined as the communication, or reception of knowledge, intelligence; knowledge obtained from investigation, study, or instructions. In the event my definition is correct, unless someone is going to create a center where information is sent to from some other origin beside Dominica, and someone in that center in Dominica relays it to the world, Ambrose theory, and his wish makes absolutely no sense.
You need to create some work in the country so that people can become employed, doing something constructive in the interest of the nation, and in their personal fife!
Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
wait a while,we come last or almost last in every area of caricom and the oecs but ambrose thinks we can become number one in the carribbean when it comes to ICT,excuse me sir what planet you live on because i live on earth
I wish the Head man at the NTRC was the one holding your position sir.. this is a man riding the crest of the wave….ur useless in your position
Not saying that it is impossible but i would like more facts to back that up.
Talk Talk Talk…………what have you all done to develop ICT in Dominica??? What major investments have you all made??? Mr. George we ICT geeks are the worse set to mock. We are not your average jack on the street. actually we are hardly on the street, because we are always posted in-front of our computers looking for the next big trend or opportunity….all i’m hearing about is talk shop talk shop talk shop. when are we going to make OUR OWN investments in Call and Data centers??? when are we going to be able to offer out sourcing for ICT services??? We cannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnoooooootttt wait on outsiders to bring the business to us… we have to create the environment for this…I submitted my business plan to your government small businesses support for this exactly ……. that was three years ago…need I say more???? I would love to be able to expand and grow my business…hire people etc, and start making some real serious money…but alas…..allu don’t like to see other people make money…. so till then….ill keep my little thing going… the reason for educating people is to inspire innovation and creativity… the people making serious money these days are those inventing new ways of doing things… but when u educated and then CEMENTED to the floor what good is that??
All Fluff. Mr Minister, what are the specific plans to provide an enabling environment, to bring the costs down, to mak w a computer lab available in every school. What are the timelines and budgets which will effect this. What about also equipping each parish with a public library, equipped with computers for public use. How about acquiring donated used laptops which can be loaned to disadvantaged kids. Plans can be over a 1 to 5 year horizon, but give the population something, a target they can aspire to and have hope! This is not good enough
REAL REAL TALK
Do you really believe that your E-Learning environment can make your ICT? Why don’t you think about implementation of normal laws which would regulate data handling, what about data disclosure in Dominica, what about monopoly of Lime which gives very slow and unreliable connection? What about the fact that a cost for internet connection is so high here that it doesn’t make sense to have servers in Dominica. Production of qualified technician wont make Dominica any IT centre
Right now you are inventing the wheel: innovations in IT industry are coming from developed countries and in order to be part of IT industry this island has to make infrastructure and general business environment to be attractive for location of data centre here. Do you really believe that any foreign company is coming to Dominica to locate their servers here? Why if you have superb USA nearby with qualified specialist and state-of-art infrastructure…just explain me what is the advantage of Dominica?
Dominica has two possible advantages. One is lower cost of English-speaking labour than the U.S. The other is that many ICT buyers are wary of U.S. based providers right now because of that government’s outrageous mass surveillance programmes. By promoting ourselves as a location with strong data privacy, we can be attractive to those buyers. (And that’s not like offshore banking, many people don’t want U.S. government agents reading their email for entirely legitimate reasons.)