The Project, Computer Literacy for Teachers 2005 -2008 is a collaborative effort of the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports & Culture and the Organization of American States (OAS).
It has two main goals: (a) To develop a manual containing the policy on the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Ministry of Education; and (b) To provide computer literacy training for 2,700 teachers by the end of 2008.
The project commenced October 2005 with a one day conference for Ministry of Education policy makers and District Administrators which was held to determine standards and to provide a draft policy document on the use of ICT in education.
During the same month a Preliminary Planning Meeting was held which comprised the Director of Education, The Director of Higher Education and Lifelong Learning, Deputy Directors of Education, Curriculum Officers with responsibility for Computer Studies, Subject Secretaries with responsibility for Computer Studies in the Testing and Evaluation Section, one ICT Teacher, Consultant for External Cooperation, and a representative from The Bahamas Union of Teachers. At the end of the day a framework for the Draft ICT Policy was prepared for use in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology along with an outline of the programme for the Conference.
In November 2005 a two day Conference was held which included all of the participants of the Planning meeting plus Senior Officers with responsibility for Human Resources and Training in the Ministry of Education, Assistant Directors of Education, District Superintendents in New Providence and the Family Islands, the Deputy National IT Coordinator in the Ministry of Finance, ICT Trainers, Representatives of the School of Education of the College of The Bahamas, representatives of students and teachers from around The Bahamas and a representative of the PIanning Section of Ministry of Education. At the end of the two days, a draft policy was created. This was sent to a smaller committee for "fine-tuning".
Two IT Facilitators were contracted to train forty (40) teachers who were invited from around The Bahamas to participated in the training for the facilitators from the 23- 27 January, 2006 at the Project Office. From this group of teachers, 26 were selected as District Trainers.
Instructional Material was produced by the Facilitators at the Ministry of Education. The materials provided were both digital and hard copy forms and included special instructions and exercises for participants as well.
Training Sessions were held for twenty (20) District Superintendents and 10 Assistant Directors of Education from the 24 -28 April, 2006 at the Project Office of the Ministry of Education.
Twenty-five (25) teachers from Ragged Island, Rum Cay, Farmers Cay, Staniel Cay, Black Point and San Salvador participated in Training from the 17 -21 April, 2006 at the Project Office, Ministry of Education.
