Minister of Education says dumping of E-books and textbooks was a responsible decision and landfill officials were consulted

Education Minister Daryl Matthew says neither the Ministry of Education nor the Board of Education (BoE) believes in hoarding – which is what residents seemed to expect with the E-book devices that were discarded at the Cooks Sanitary Landfill last week.

Hundreds of the electronic devices, as well as textbooks, were dumped, since, according to Ministry officials, the useful life of their technology had expired.

Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, May 31, Matthew said he could not speak to whether the devices had been disposed of properly, as he is not an expert on landfill management.

However, he did say the devices had already been salvaged for parts to repair others, and those discarded had been in storage for several years.

The Education Minister says the time had come to get rid of the E-books, since a vigorous campaign had been launched to distribute laptop computers throughout the government secondary schools.

The devices were discarded in consultation with officials at the landfill, Matthew also claims.