Akash Samaroo
akashrsamaroo19@gmail.com
The Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) expects internet connectivity in Brasso Venado by September.
It was a promise made by TATT on November 22, 2020 after Guardian Media highlighted the stories of children in the community who were struggling with virtual school due to a lack of devices and internet access in the humble agricultural village.
It’s been a little over five months since Guardian Media told their story.
One where former school principal and resident Marilyn Villafana worried about their academic futures due to the digital divide. One where the public responded immediately.
“That said night, a good Samaritan came forward and he bought 20 (tablets), and the next day we had other good people from all over Trinidad calling to donate a device, as far as Diego Martin, my emotions ran high, the next day I went to collect a cheque in Point Lisas I start to cry when I saw the figure,” Villafana said when Guardian Media visited the community yesterday.
Villafana sat in the same shed that she used as a classroom for the children in the community to use her internet and device to get their work done. Now instead of the pencils and paper that were spread across the desks, there were sleek new tablets with smiles on the children’s faces brighter than the screen resolution.
“It is a big help with my school work,” said 11-year-old Sapphire Awong, “I can also see my teacher so I get a better explanation with the work, I can have a face-to-face conversation with miss and I can also see my friends.”
For 16-year-old Randy Sampath, his new tablet is just what he needs to fuel his aspirations to be a computer technician.
Villafana said she observed the new technology is encouraging the male students to be better focused in class.
“They have a greater attention span so more learning carrying on, more of the curriculum is being done and they are paying attention, I mean one or two might be fidgety but it’s really working well,” she said.
Technology aside, Randy said he’s just glad that all he has to do now is focus on completing his work rather than how he was getting it into his hands.
“Sir, the transport to drop back and pick up the packages was difficult to find, because people weren’t really working taxis due to COVID,” Randy said.
COVID-19 may be one reason, the condition of their roadways may be the other. But that is another story.
But the battle is only half won in Brasso Venado as Randy reminded the news team of Guardian media when he walked 10 paces to the left.
“The internet does drop here sir.”
It drops by the Villafanas, and it is non-existent in most other homes. For the farming village, the internet here is not a utility but rather a luxury.
Only around four households have it, therefore the children, despite having devices still must meet at certain areas in the village to share the broadband.
One student piped up, “Sir, sometimes I can’t log in and the teacher marks me as absent.”
Residents say some service providers were in the area recently doing an audit of the existing infrastructure, but the workers told them it’s up to TATT to give them final approval.
Guardian Media reached out to chief executive officer of TATT Reddock-Downes who said the authority is in the process of evaluating the bids it received to provide broadband in the area.
Reddock-Downes is hoping to complete that process in the next two months and she is hoping that work starts in the Brasso Venado area before the end of September.
TATT is one of the agencies that donated devices to the children of the community when the story aired and published last November.