Activities in Jamaica

The Rio Grande Cloud Computing Project

Project Category: Information Technology Based Pilot Project

Project Title: "The Rio Grande Cloud Computing Project"

Project Overview:

Period of Cooperation: June 2013 to May 2015

Partner Country's Implementing Organization: Ministry of Education, Region 2, Jamaica

Overall Goal: To identify sustainable Information
Communication Technology solutions for remote rural schools, by introducing Cloud Computing Solutions

Project Purpose: To implement an Information Technology based Project, in six (6) Primary Schools in Portland, Jamaica, as a sustainable means of ensuring access to the internet for educational purposes, thereby improving teaching and learning.

Background to the Project:
In a presentation at JICA Day 2013, Mrs. Yashieka Blackwood Grant, Community Relations Education Officer of the Ministry of Education Region 2, explained that as a result of limited human and other resources many schools are without computers, or have irreparable, non-functional or underutilized computers. The Rio Grande Cloud Computing Project, was thus planned by the Ministry of Education as a means of improving schools' access to the internet. Sixty percent (60%) of schools in Region 2 are without regular access to the internet. The Ministry of Education, Region 2 identified six (6) Primary Schools to pilot a cloud computing solution, with students and teachers as the primary beneficiaries. This project seeks to identify sustainable ICT solutions for schools in order to increase the access to online teaching and learning resources in schools and thereby improve operational efficiency of schools and the MOE regional office.

The Rio Grande Cloud Computing project will seek to provide Internet Service for each of the six project schools. Additionally, each school is also set to receive: ten (10) Google Chrome books and one (1) charging cart. The Universal Service Fund Company Limited has approved funding for the project in the sum of $2,351,500.00 Jamaican Dollars. The project will also be supported by the Government of Japan, through the services of JICA volunteers.

In order to improve ICT in the Ministry of Education's Region 2 Area, there has been a partnership between the MOE Region 2 and JICA since 2005. The Rio Grande Cloud Computing Project was pioneered by a member of the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers since 2011. JOCV members have been supporting the work of the regional office through:

• Conducting workshops for teachers in computer maintenance, network security and repair
• Generally collaborating with Education Officers to arrange school visits for computer repairs, teacher support and training
• Conducting PC maintenance and repair training for Regional Staff

IT Training in Region II under the Rio Grande Cloud Computing Project

Rio Grande's Project Status:

The Community Relations Education Officer reported that to date:

• A Project Committee was constituted
• Principals and teachers of the project schools were sensitized about this project
• All teachers within the project schools as well as Regional Staff who are supporting the project have been trained in Google Apps for education (Over 200 participants)
• Project proposal has received funding approval from the Universal Service Fund ($2,351,500.00)
• Terms of Reference for the operation and monitoring of the project has been drafted

Impact of the Pilot Project

The Pilot Project will target six (6) Primary schools in the Rio Grande Valley, a very remote rural area in Region 2. The Project Schools are:

SCHOOLS	STUDENT ENROLMENT	STAFF
1. Bellevue Primary	46	4
2. Comfort Castle Primary & Junior High	65	10
3. Coopers Hill Primary	27	4
4. Fellowship Primary & Junior High	394	25
5. Moore Town Primary & Junior High	124	13
6. Windsor Primary	79	6
Total	735	62

MOE's Focus: Identifying sustainable ICT solutions for schools in order to:

1. Increase access to online teaching and learning resources at primary schools in remote areas
2. Increase operational efficiency of schools and the MOE's regional office
3. Establish ICT support framework in schools and the regional
4. Create a solution model which can be replicated throughout the island and which Ministry of Education and E-Learning Jamaica can use as a reference for their E-Learning Project in Primary Schools.

Workshop on Maintenance and Repair of Personal Computers. JOCV Member assigned to Region II in the Ministry of Education conducted training in Port Antonio, Portland during FY2012.

Next Phase:

• Re-Commissioning of the Project Committee because of changes in staff (January 2014)
• Approval of project operations and monitoring policy by MOE's Programme Monitoring Unit
• Procurement of relevant devices for project schools (April 2014)
• Official Launch of the Project and hand over of equipment to schools (May 2014)
• Second round of training in Google Apps for Education (July 2014)

Ministry of Education's Region II Staff, who successfully completed Google Apps for Education training.

JOCV Member in the area of Information Technology assigned to the Ministry of Education's Region 2 since August, 2013 supporting the Project.