In this September photograph, two students share one laptop to attend their online class. There are ongoing concerns about the digital divide in Jamaica. In many poor, urban communities, students regularly stay away from their online classrooms because their parents cannot afford to pay for fixed Internet/broadband service in their homes.
My young friend Sydney has given up the tutorial teaching he was doing at the university level. The frustration of trying, mostly unsuccessfully, to reach his class virtually has taken its toll. At least one-half of his students have had no consistent connection since COVID-19 struck.
Furthermore, even before March, he had been informed by the person in charge of his faculty that he really should not mark down any student for grammar or English expression. Also, it was obliquely but clearly suggested to him that the policy was to try not to pass every student – no matter how their performance was. High enrolment and tuition income are essent