“Education in particular can be seen to be made more available to the public as distance learning and online tuition offer citizens greater opportunities for self-improvement in an ICT-empowered society,” Griffith said. In order to realise the real and potential benefits an improved ICT sector affords, Griffith said, the Government has given its commitment to promote the integration of ICTs into our society by increasing the activities and prominence of entities intimately tied to the sector.
Read more: TT: Citizens to benefit most from Govt’s ICT roll-out
"We have a lot of services, especially information and communication technologies (ICT) in the public service, but the Service has never been transformed to take advantage of that," Seepersad-Bachan told the Express yesterday during the launch of Public Service Week on the Brian Lara Promenade, Port of Spain.
Even with its slightly improved ranking, Trinidad and Tobago lagged behind other Latin American and Caribbean countries such as Barbados (35th) and Puerto Rico (36th), although it outperformed several larger territories in the region, including Brazil (65th), Jamaica (74th) and neighbouring Venezuela (107th).
Read more: TT: Effective Governance Key to Caribbean ICT Development
Speaking with the Sunday Guardian, chief executive officer of iGovTT, Kendall Tull said there was a number of things happening in collaboration with the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector. “The next step we are looking at right now is a pilot programme that examines mobile devices across all platforms and the ways that we can integrate these productivity tools into Government.”
Read more: TT: iGovTT works to increase efficiency in Govt sector
“ICT plays a pivotal role (in) the transformation of Trinidad and Tobago into a knowledge-based society (because) it is the most cost-effective tool for connecting our citizens and our businesses, and is the platform from which Government hopes to diversify the economy...and improve levels of access to primary services to improve the quality of life of citizens,” Karim stated. He noted this was why two years ago, Government sought to develop a National ICT Plan, building on the connectivity drive during Phase One from 2003 to 2008.