Smart Lab success exposes tech gap between Jamaican students, their teachers
Published:Monday | June 16, 2025 | 12:05 AMJanet Silvera/Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
Students across Jamaica have embraced the high-tech “smart labs” installed in their schools so swiftly that it has left their teachers struggling to keep up, which has prompted the Digicel Foundation to be looking to the teachers’ colleges to bridge the digital divide.
Since 2022, Digicel Foundation has invested more than US$1.4 million to build 21 smart labs across 13 parishes, outfitting them with SMART Boards, 24 laptops per lab, educational software, printers, and even smart safety locks.
However, while students, especially boys, have eagerly immersed themselves into this new learning environment, teachers have shown hesitation, often uncomfortable using the very technology meant to revolutionise the classroom.
“We have found that the students are much more advanced with the technology than their teachers are,” said Joy Clark, chairman of the Foundation. “It’s not that teachers are unwilling. Many simply do not have the same level of digital exposure. Even after training, they’re hesitant to fully utilise the labs.”
To address the issue, the Foundation is pivoting, bringing the smart labs into four of Jamaica’s major teacher-training institutions to ensure that the next generation of educators enters the workforce already equipped with digital confidence and competence.
The selected colleges are Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College in Granville, St James; The Mico University College in Kingston; St Joseph’s Teachers’ College in St Andrew and Church Teachers’ College in Mandeville, Manchester.
“These colleges will be equipped with the same smart-learning labs we have rolled out in primary and secondary schools,” Clarke explained. “This way, teacher trainees can become fluent in using the tools before they even step into a classroom.”
The initiative aims to eliminate a barrier Digicel Foundation began noticing early in its rollout.
“Even with three-hour teacher training sessions at the schools, the comfort level just wasn’t where we hoped it would be,” Clark said. “This shift in focus, starting from the teacher-training stage, is our way of getting ahead of the problem.”
Powered by Mimeo software, an interactive digital learning platform, the smart labs allow teachers to upload lesson plans and engage students using group and individual exercises synced to SMART Boards and laptops.
While the software is largely United States-based in its standard offerings, Clark noted one key challenge, the absence of Jamaican-centric content.
“We realised subjects like our culture, history, geography, they weren’t on the platform,” she said. “So we’re encouraging local teachers to upload their own lesson plans. Once they do, every school using Mimeo can access those Jamaican materials. It becomes a shared teaching ecosystem.”
Work has already begun at three of the four teachers’ colleges, with Sam Sharpe holding special significance as Digicel prepares to roll out five more labs in western Jamaica.
“We want to highlight that we’re committed not just to urban areas, but also to strengthening digital literacy across the island, including in the west,” Clark added.
Each lab costs approximately US$70,000 to build and outfit, a significant investment that the Foundation believes will yield lasting returns, if teachers are given the same chance to grow with the technology as their students have.
“Students are showing us what’s possible,” said Clark. “Now, it’s time we ensure their educators are just as empowered.”