With the new school term weeks away, Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly is optimistic that the donation of smart technology to schools will enhance their capacity to teach large numbers of students while keeping them safe.

She was speaking with reporters after IdeaHub smart boards from Information and Communications Technology (ICT) company Huawei were handed over at the San Juan North Secondary School on Friday.

Dr Gadsby-Dolly said the devices would go a long way towards connecting teachers and students in the new term.

She said the features on the smartboards would cater to the different learning styles of students while allowing teachers to teach from their own homes.

"It's always a good thing to have students engaged, and students are different, so some will be fine with the usual Zoom (classes) and so on, some will need this level of interaction. So the facility of teachers having different tools at their fingertips to engage classes is also a win."

Gadsby-Dolly thanked Huawei and the Telecommunications Services of TT (TSTT) for their assistance in the donations.

She stressed that teachers and school administrators must keep track of changing technology to offer students the best education possible.

"Our information system has moved from blackboards to whiteboards to smartboards and now IdeaHubs.

"I applaud Huawei and TSTT for their vision and for responding to the government's call for support for our students with their tremendous contributions. Education takes a village.

"I am challenging the teachers of these ten schools to think that there are no buts, to explore and experiment and to innovate as much as possible. Go wild. Take your ideas to your students and use these IdeaHubs to create and deliver lessons that will take their learning and yours to the next level."

She said at present over 12,000 teachers have been trained in digital teaching techniques and training in how to use the devices was still ongoing.

Ten primary and secondary schools across TT received IdeaHubs.

Also at the ceremony was CEO of Huawei TT Jeff Jin, who said he was happy to be part of any initiative that promoted the use of technology for learning and development.

He said during the covid19 pandemic, different aspects of society and industry have increased their reliance on technology and he was pleased to assist in keeping local schools connected.

"All the schools we saw were forced to be fully online, and there were many challenges for teachers and students, including a limited ability to share the information by the teachers, and small cameras, which made it hard to share teaching material.

"We all need digital tools to help us work together remotely and closely. Today we introduce a new product to meet this demand.

"We know this new technology can really help schools, not only during the pandemic but also after."

Each IdeaHub device costs over $100,000. Their features include a high-definiti