Guyana is set to benefit from a donation of 23,000 computers from the People’s Republic of China for its One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) project.
A Government Information Agency (GINA) report said the computers were manufactured by the Great Wall Computer Shenzhen Company Limited (referred to as Great Wall Computer) under a bilateral agreement between the two countries and they will complement 5,000 machines that had already been delivered to the OLPF Secretariat in October.
Great Wall Computer was awarded the “Most Faithful Enterprise in 2012” at a summit held in Beijing in September and its potential to enhance development was recognised, GINA noted.
Huibao Jin, liaison for Great Wall, on Wednesday paid a visit to the OLPF Secretariat to get a firsthand look at its operations. In an interview with GINA, Jin said he was satisfied with the operations and through collaboration it will meet its goals.
“The purpose of the visit is to get some knowledge, how the OLPF secretariat is operating, and also through this exercise from our perspective… we were expecting to see an organization of a few persons… we are pleased,” he said.
Jin said that to date collaboration with the government has been successful and China is committed to future partnership. “This is a very good and sound project, so we are in the right path. We also learnt some details how the laptops are being distributed and how the software is being developed to have students learn curriculum,” he said.
Margo Boyce, OLPF Project Manager, said to date, 22,000 units have been distributed and by the end of December, 27,000 will be in the hands of beneficiaries countrywide.
“It is expected that we will start distribution of the Great Wall computers in Region Four in January 2013. …We are on schedule with distribution and I would just like to remind the public that OLPF is real and is continuing to make a difference,” she said.
During the tour Jin and his team visited the customer services department, warehouse (bond), community liaison department, public relations, accounts, training, data entry, registry and verification departments, GINA said.
