WHILE many students are first introduced to coding in high school, children as young as those at the infant level are writing computer programmes at Camperdown Primary and Infant School, under the guidance of Duval Ebanks. It’s a feat that has earned the educator the title of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Innovation Teacher of the Year.

Ebanks, a grade five teacher who served 17 years at the rural St Ann institution, was recognised at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in St Andrew on Monday by the Flow Foundation — in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth, and Information and the Jamaica Teaching Council — for his innovative use of ICT to enhance teaching and learning.

“I am excited about it. I am very happy, I am honoured, I am humbled by it. Did I think I would win? Yes and no. Why? Because I did observe my fellow competitors’ videos and they were all really good; they all had transformational technologies [they were] using with their students. But to have been named, it means that among my peers I’m respected,” he said.