Georgetown, Anna Regina (Region 2) and most likely Annai (Region 9) are being targeted for the pilot phase of the government’s ambitious US$30M One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) initiative Stabroek News has learnt.
A source close to the project yesterday said the idea is to test the initiative in urban, rural and hinterland settings. According to information reaching this newspaper, the beneficiaries have not yet been chosen but Stabroek News was able to confirm that some 150 Lenovo instruments have been procured for the pilots through locally authorised Lenovo dealers Starr Computers and Vishnu Panday and Associates Inc. Warranty, service and support for the instruments would be provided by local companies.]
President Bharrat Jagdeo is on record as saying that they are looking to launch the project by year end. It is still unclear how beneficiaries will be chosen though it had been advanced in the project’s draft document that the instruments be tied to the performance of community service by those individuals.
Meanwhile, this newspaper had reported a source as saying that the Chinese government will be the initial financier of the OLPF with funds secured last month. It is expected that some 12,000 instruments will be distributed in the first year.
The initiative, which was announced by President Jagdeo in July, is being run out of the Project Manage-ment Office in the Office of Climate Change and is geared towards supporting and fostering community and economic development within the framework of the Low Carbon Development Strategy. Jagdeo had said that the government would pledge US$30 million over the next three years to put computers in the hands of at least 90,000 poor families. At a news conference last month he said that the money would not come from the financial mechanism set up with Norway which would see that country provide some US$250 million over a period of five years to Guyana for cooperation on climate change mitigation. However, the President said there will be some connection between the project and the financing facility.
The President added that the OLPF model will not be utilised in the Amerindian communities.
“We’re going to probably have internet kiosks in each village so they would have a bank of computers there rather than in each individual household because of the situation with power in those communities,” he said.
The Office of the President has since publicised vacancies for trainers and this newspaper has learnt that they are looking to hire some 300 individuals who will provide support for the laptop recipients.
The trainer ad stated that participants would have to serve as ICT trainers throughout Guyana and “will be required to commit one year of service in exchange for training and a laptop.” The certified trainers will be paid, though information pertaining to remuneration has not been made public.
The ad stated that the OLPF will ensure that families get the resources and training in basic computer skills that are essential for job-preparedness in the modern economy.
“By pairing earned laptops, ICT trainers and ICT infrastructure OLPF is designed as an affordable, common-sense approach to training and graduating family members for the information technology age and economy,” it read.
Meanwhile, the government is aiming to have some 50 secondary schools countrywide furnished with fully equipped computer laboratories by year end, according to information from Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon.
Briefing the media yesterday on matters coming out of Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, he stated that spending had been approved to set up the computer labs by the end of 2010 and they were expected to cost between $3M and $4M each.
“The education strategic plan for Guyana sees all of the secondary schools being similarly equipped by the end of 2011.
Those delays between 2010 and 2011, some have been occasioned by power requirements and the 2011 intention to deploy solar panel banks in hinterland areas to discharge this and other power-demanding initiatives in those communities,” he added.
As it relates to internet connectivity, Dr. Luncheon said he was not in a position to comment definitively on whether the schools will be connected to the government’s fibre optic cable but said this was likely from a cost perspective.
Education Minister Shaik Baksh at an event last month stated that his ministry intended to equip all secondary schools and 50 per cent of primary schools with IT laboratories by 2013. He went on to say some 70 of the 110 public secondary schools would have computer laboratories by year end with the others to benefit by June 2011.
He had stated that work on those to benefit was moving apace with each school to receive at least 30 computers.
