OLPF programme to continue – OP

Government on Thursday announced that it will continue the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) initiative with the assistance and support of stakeholders.

A statement from the Office of the President said that while the administration has contemplated the impact of the opposition budget cuts, specifically on its information communication technology (ICT) 4G National Strategy, the vision which propelled the OLPF initiative has been affected by those cuts.

Thousands of the laptops have already been distributed to persons in the lower income bracket since the programme began.

“The administration, refusing to be daunted by the most recent anti-development actions of the opposition, has opted to pursue the more short-term component of the initiative, and that is, the verification and the distribution, using support and assistance from stakeholders,” the statement read.

“The Office of the President has declared, we will receive and, we will continue to distribute the laptops. The Office of the President further states, we are urging residents in areas of distribution to come out to assist and to support the effort to distribute the laptops, subsequent to verification,” the statement further stated.

The Office of the President categorically said that, “we will not allow the unconscionable actions of the political opposition in Parliament to frustrate our ambitions and our plans for the future of Guyana and for Guyanese. The ICT 4G National Strategy will continue to be enforced.”

The OLPF, pioneered by former President Bharrat Jagdeo, is being implemented over a three-year period to benefit 90,000 families and communities across the country. The criteria for distribution will depend on several factors, including an income test among others for families to fit the classification of less fortunate.

The Guyana government solicited the support of the Chinese government for the supply of devices for the programme, and the move resulted in a Chinese company being the supplier of the laptops, and the setting up of a Haier service centre in Guyana. The OLPF is part of government’s vision for the ICT sector which it is optimistic will lead the way forward for Guyana, and will be one of the new sectors to generate growth.