In an effort to improve communication and increase technology awareness and availability among educators in Jamaica, Research in Motion has partnered with the Jamaican Ministry of Education to provide some 20,000 teachers throughout the island’s school system with BlackBerry Smartphones. According to Minister of Education Hon. Andrew Holness, the effort will allow for the effective and increased use of technology among teachers.

Under the partnership with RIM, the company will be making two of its newest technologies available to teachers – the Blackberry Mobile Voice System, which will reduce costs by having one phone extension for multiple numbers; and the Blackberry Pushcast to enable distribution of content such as PowerPoint presentations, videos, or audio files. Users will benefit from closed user group (CUG) service, whereby calls between the teaching population and the Ministry will be free of cost; instant messaging with other smart phone users; and panic button for automatic calls to the police, fire department, and other emergency services.

This project is set to kick off this coming school year which starts in September.

[Source via CrackBerry]