Search Page

The Ministry of Education of Trinidad and Tobago has outlined its digital transformation plan for the period 2022-2027. This plan consists of 13 digital projects, including: E-testing, a student management system, and quick-response identification cards for students. According to the Minister of education, "the benefits of this programme are far-reaching, and will positively impact areas such as records management, management of school infrastructure, curriculum delivery, teacher development and the conduct of examinations”.

A Human Rights Watch report revealed that during the Covid-19 school closures, governments in 49 of the world's most populous countries violated children's rights by approving and enabling the widespread adoption of EdTech products. Children have been forced to pay for their learning at the cost of their rights to privacy and access to information. Of the 164 EdTech products examined, 146 (89%) monitored children's personal data secretly and without the consent of children or their parents, both inside and outside their virtual classrooms and on the internet.

To identify students accurately and easily detect any potential impersonator, an expert from Cairo’s National Research Centre called on African universities to introduce biometric systems based on fingerprints and to install scanning systems at entrance gates, examination halls and lecture rooms. An Egyptian soccer player has been recently impersonated during the mid-year exam at a private higher education institution in Shabraman.

Poverty, the rising rate of early dropouts, ghost schools and teachers, low pass rates in the JEST test for primary school teachers are just some of the factors at the heart of the education crisis in Sindh. The biometric mechanism put in place by the Sindh government proved to be counterproductive and has failed to compel ghost teachers to attend school: 6.5 million children are currently out of school.

To prevent the forging of information, a new digital platform will allow learners from primary to university levels to have an identification number. Schools will update data about their learners, teaching and non-teaching staff, infrastructure and facilities including physical education and sports through their online EMIS user accounts. The new system is aimed to eliminate ghost workers and improve transparency and accountability across the country.

An investigation is being conducted by The Teachers' Service Commission (TSC) after complaints that teachers' committees at the district level had promoted teachers that did not meet the criteria under the influence of bribes. A government official called on the TSC to establish a digital system for keeping teachers' information and offer a Customer Service Center for teachers whenever they encounter challenges in implementing their duties.