President Irfaan Ali last week announced the re-introduction of the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) initiative.
According to a statement from the Office of the President, the Head of State told residents of Kato in Region Eight on December 22 that the programme would re-start in 2021 with the aim of placing Guyanese on par with the rest of the technological world.
The issuing of laptop computers would go hand-in-hand with access to the internet, which the President said is earmarked for interior locations.
“Next year we will also restart the One Laptop Per Family programme to ensure that every child has the opportunity to not only be connected to the hub but has the instrument through which they can pursue their studies”, he was quoted as saying.
“The pandemic has taught us how important it is to be in line with technology…And we have to increase our investment to bring greater technological access through our hinterland and riverine areas”, he added.
The President, who had travelled to the Potaro-Siparuni community to assess the needs of its residents, told the gathering that they will soon benefit from an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) hub.
“I’m very happy to report to you that very soon we will commence the building of your ICT hub and put the infrastructure in that hub, so that you will have access to good internet facilities and you can pursue the opportunities that comes with that”, he said.
The One Laptop Per Family programme was launched in January of 2011. After the PPP/C demitted office in 2015 there were questions about the impact of the programme. It was not continued by the APNU+AFC administration.
According to a 2016 audit report on the programme which was commissioned by the APNU+AFC government, the project fell short of its objective, was “grossly overstaffed” and the $4.3 billion spent on it could have been reduced.
The OLPF project was launched by the PPP/C government in 2011, with the main objective being to acquire and distribute laptops to 90,000 families countrywide. The report said up to December 31, 2014, the project had fallen short of the target by 31,697 or 35%. It said that the project only acquired 55,145 laptops, of which, 50,009 were distributed.
The cost of the 55,145 laptops was $3.1 billion, while other costs from May 9, 2011 to May 31, 2015 amounted to $1.2 billion.
The OLPF project was part of a larger ICT project funded by a loan and grants from the Government of China amounting to $10.2 billion, and from the Government of Guyana, which had put in $3.4 billion.
According to the audit report, the OLPF project was not governed by any specific legislation and the then project manager was unable to provide auditors with a project document or plan detailing the number of laptops required for the project, the procurement stages and prospective suppliers of the laptops, procedures for distribution and the number of departments and employees required to effectively and efficiently execute the project.
The report also revealed that the OLPF’s obligation to provide 10 hours of training to all laptop recipients was scrapped on the ground that training was too expensive. It was stated that it was the project manager who decided to cease the training aspect of the project during the last quarter of 2013.
“Our rough estimate is that some 14,138 laptops were distributed without the requisite training,” the report said. It added that over 5,000 laptops from the project, costing more than $300 million, were either stolen or were found to be defective.
