The government’s One Laptop Per Family programme got a major boost on Monday from the Chinese government with the formalizing of a US$8M grant which will provide 28,145 of the computers.
This is more than the 26,000 laptops distributed to date. A release from the Government Information Agency said that a new phase of distribution will start soon following the Chinese aid.
GINA said that the grant aid agreement was signed between Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh and Chinese Ambassador to Guyana Zhang Limin at the Office of the President.
The programme was launched three years ago by President Bharrat Jagdeo and aims to ensure that less fortunate families are given computers to hone information and communications technology skills. Critics had described it as an electioneering project which was not well thought out.
The programme is operated by OLPF teams working at the Secretariat in Queenstown where application and registration are facilitated. Training hubs have been set up at various locations across the country to instruct the beneficiaries on the laptops.
Project Consultant Dario McAlmon told GINA that applications to date for the laptops are around 90,000.
“OLPF has already been having an impact among the recipients who we now term members of the OLPF family,” McAlmon said prior to showing a video that identified areas and people whose lives have been changed as a result of the programme.
The Government of China is a major partner in the project, sourcing Chinese companies like Haier and recently Great Wall Computer, GINA said.
“The distinction between those who have access to Information Communications Technology and those who don’t should be removed… our position as a government is that the vast benefits of Information Communications Technology must be available to all of the citizens of Guyana irrespective of where they live, irrespective of indeed their education background, irrespective even of their age,” Singh said at the signing ceremony, according to GINA.
