Jamaican educators train for AI classrooms as government advances roads, bridges and land titling

Educators across Jamaica are being encouraged to adopt artificial intelligence in teaching without undermining the reasoning skills that meaningful learning requires, as public and private partners roll out tools to prepare teachers and students for a fast-changing digital environment.

One Academy, a product of One on One Educational Services, recently staged its Future Ready Educator Summit 2.0 to give teachers practical ways to navigate AI's benefits and risks. President and Chief Executive Officer Ricardo Allen said educators increasingly use the technology for lesson planning, preparing notes, grading assignments and interpreting administrative data, while students often turn to AI for homework answers. He cautioned that unless assessments require explanation and logical reasoning rather than memorised responses, shortcuts enabled by AI could erode long-term learning and weaken cognitive capacity.

"Teachers need to remain the architects of thinking," Allen said, noting that valid assessment depends on whether pupils can infer information and defend their reasoning, not merely supply correct answers. One approach he cited is asking students to debate an AI on a fixed position and return with evidence. A recent Cambridge University fellow, Allen said One on One is researching dialogic assessment with Cambridge, implementing related work in the Bahamas and planning to introduce similar methods for Jamaican teachers. Through the National Virtual School partnership with the Ministry of Education, specialist subjects such as game design are streamed from Kingston to 101 schools, with skills-gap testing helping teachers tailor instruction.

In a separate update, the Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development outlined major capital works for the financial year. The Shared Prosperity Through Accelerated Improvement to Our Road Network (SPARK) programme, valued at J$45 billion, stood at roughly 26 per cent completion as of April 2026. Nine work orders totalling J$18.39 billion cover 369 roads across four packages, with construction under way on 210 roads and 109 already finished.

Capex works include completed dualisation of Grange Lane in Portmore and 40 per cent progress on widening the Braeton to Hellshire main road, along with widening of Arthur Wint Drive and Camp Road to include potable water and sewage infrastructure. An accelerated bridge programme will cover 55 bridges, including seven emergency bridges and 20 in areas affected by Hurricane Melissa, following openings at Troy and Spring Village. A drainage plan for Catherine Hall in St. James is being developed within the wider Montego Bay flood-control framework.

On land titling, persons who occupy crown lands after 9 June 2026 will not qualify for settlement programmes, while a revolving survey-loan fund will assist owners of two acres or less. Digital e-titles are targeted from September 2027, with distribution of more than 30,000 titles per year planned.