The Chinese government yesterday signed an agreement which the Government of Guyana receiving 30,000 laptops, costing US$8 million as a contribution towards the One Laptop per Family (OLPF) initiative.
The contract was signed by a representative of the China Machinery Corporation, David Huang and Permanent Secretary of the Office of the President, Omar Sharyff in the presence of Secretary of the Chinese Embassy Jason Zhang and members of the policy committee of the OLPF.
Kwame McCoy, who chaired the proceedings, said the Chinese government is presenting this “grand gift” in recognition of the importance of Guyana’s ICT agenda. He said the computers will be manufactured in China and are due to arrive in three batches. “Guyana and China are currently celebrating 40 years of bilateral relations and I think that it is important that at this time… we are able to give further testimony to the kind of relationship we’ve had over the years,” he said.
Huang said that best efforts will be put forward to deliver the computers as early as possible and for them to be of high quality. “With delivering those computers, I think both Guyanese and Chinese, we can improve our long-term relationship,” he added.
Meanwhile, OLPF’s Public Relations Consultant, Dario McKlmon, said that at present, the application process for phase two of the project has been opened, inviting persons of the higher income bracket (earning up to $100,000) to apply. Distribution will commence in a matter of weeks, he said.
When the OLPF project was launched earlier last year, persons earning $50,000 or lower were catered for, with priority given to single parents, differently able persons and low-income families.
“All across Guyana, you can see verification taking place.
The applicants who would have applied last year, over 10,000 of them have received their computers and the others are being verified and distribution will begin shortly. All in all, this project is moving ahead,” he said.
McKlmon recapped the project was launched with aim of placing 90,000 laptop computers in the homes of Guyanese across the country. “This vision is part of the integrated ICT agenda that the government has developed going back to 2004 when that strategy was crafted. The government having recognized that ICT is the new frontier for development; that developing countries need to embrace in order to catapult the economy to this global arena that the world has evolved into,” he added.
He further explained that OLPF was developed with ownership residing in the families since the government of Guyana believes that with ownership being placed in the family, the digital divide can be bridged faster because all within the household will learn at the same time and will be able to share the knowledge.
