Senior Project Manager of the One Laptop per Family Project Sesh Sukhdeo
President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday rolled out his One Laptop per Family initiative to a packed Guyana International Conference Centre as hundreds came to hear how they could benefit from the initiative designed to be a part of Guyana’s thrust into the age of information technology on which much of the economy will be reliant. In his address to the gathering of mostly mothers and schoolchildren, President Jagdeo said the 90,000 laptop computers would go to the least fortunate families in Guyana.
President Bharrat Jagdeo speaking at the launch of the project
“I don’t want other kids not to benefit too, but I am prepared to use a tax credit system or any other system to ensure that they too could have access at a cheaper rate. But we want the poor kids to have these instruments,” he said.
“[The laptop] has to be earned...not that you have to pay for it, but it has to be earned by effort and commitment. People who collect these laptops are not getting them free. You don’t have to pay for them but it requires commitment and effort and a promise to help others once you learn,” President Jagdeo explained.
Students of the Hinterland Scholarship Programme collecting their laptops from President Jagdeo
“This is a national project; this is a project that allows you to help others too, inasmuch as you help yourselves. This is the Guyanese family working together to help each other,” he said.
Explaining the rationale behind the project, the President said he decided it would be one laptop per family, rather than per child.
“First of all, it is cost consideration. However, we think that with this instrument placed in the family, with collective ownership of this instrument, that we can achieve a number of things. First, we can achieve greater connection between the classroom and the home. Secondly, we can get the parents much more involved in the work of the children in a very interactive way. Thirdly, it enhances educational access and information available to the entire family. They can access information and communicate with people across the world using this method,” he said
With the Govt focus to bring the people of Guyana with ICT they have now launch it 1 laptop per family.....this is so good that every home will have access to a computer and it show the govt interest for its people......
ReplyDeleteHas the Govt moves to bring the citizen of this country up with the technology life they are giving away these laptop so that family who are not that fortunate to have access to the internet
ReplyDeleteWith this many citizen well be connected with the world and it also makes the lives of school children where they have to get stuff for the internet world......
ReplyDeletethis program will benefit Guyanese all round guyana and many Guyanese will be learning the basic and more about the computer and from the computer.it will also allow these family to be abreast with what is going on in the world.
ReplyDeletethe olpf will have even the grand parents of family using these laptop and there are equipt with the soft ware so that they can learn a few things.
ReplyDeleteThe OLPF is a strategic endeavor by the Government of Guyana in efforts to combat a number of social ills in the general public such as literacy and awareness of current affairs amongst the people. This initiative therefore, would directly put the "ordinary man or woman or child" in a position of being cognizant of what is going on in their country and around the world at large and equally the Government's interest in their social upgrading and well being.
ReplyDelete