C&W Internet summer school a success

Cable & Wireless the leading full service telecommunications provider in the Caribbean has boasted that it leads the way in offering meaningful educational opportunities to students in St Vincent and the Grenadines.{{more}} This claim was made by Chief Executive, Angus Steele at the closing ceremony of the Cable and Wireless Internet Summer School held at the Methodist Church Hall on August 30th.

Steele noted that for over twenty five years Cable & Wireless has been awarding scholarships to children of employees and to needy children in communities to attend secondary schools. “We have also partnered with the Lions Club South for the past ten years in developing the debating talents of our young students. The Internet must be demystified and it is our duty as the leading broadband provider that every household have access to the internet and that every child use the internet responsibly”, remarked Steele.

The feature address was delivered by Dr. Jerrol Thompson, Minister of Telecommunications, Science, Industry and Technology, who praised Cable & Wireless for their efforts in promoting the use of the Internet and for exposing children at the early age of seven years. “I am particularly pleased to see several senior citizens who are not intimidated by the Internet. The increased numbers of persons attending this programme from year to year is testimony to the growing interest that we are seeing in the use of Information Technology and ICT. The government is investing in IT and ICT and anyone looking to get into the IT business can do so with the assistance of the Centre for Enterprise development”, said Dr. Thompson.

The first year of the programme saw an attendance of 205 students in 2004 and this year saw a marked increase to 385 students ranging from age seven to 18 years. Twenty-five senior citizens and twelve senior officers from the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force attended.

Carlton “CP Hall, Education Officer, from the Ministry of Education gave brief remarks and noted that the mixture of culture and education is a hall mark of Cable & Wireless. He made these comments after listening to Mark Hillocks, a student at the Grammar School, who rendered selections from different genres produced even before he was born. “This is testimony that we can use the Internet to capture information whether its music or data and we can access this information via the Internet.

The Internet can be used in ways to progress our lives and Cable & Wireless is on to a good thing by exposing the students to this magnificent tool for research,” commented Hall.