Gov’t to give teachers laptops –will equip them to deliver curriculum electronically

RECOGNISING that the education system “is on life support”, Government has moved to channel the last batch of 10,000 laptops from the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) project towards teachers for the better delivery of curriculum in schools.Governance Minister Raphael Trotman, while addressing the weekly Cabinet press briefing on Wednesday, said that there is a possibility that the One Laptop Per Family programme would be modified to a One Laptop Per “Teacher” initiative, in order to properly equip teachers with the instruments to deliver the curriculum in a more “electronic” manner, given that Guyana’s technological position is at a setback.

This last batch of laptops is expected to arrive soon, Trotman said. As such, Government is moving to invest teachers with laptops so that they can provide first-hand information to students rather than relying on text-books to deliver content to students.

The laptops will also aid in the delivery of Information Technology in schools.

“The programme has to be tied to other programmes to ensure that the teachers use them effectively for training and for improving their methodologies for delivering their curriculum in a more electronic manner,” Minister Trotman advised.

In implementing this, the Minister said, training schools will most likely be established so that teachers will be able to carry out the initiative efficiently, as they will be the primary focus of the project.

Although there are periodic displays of excellence in the Caribbean Secondary School (CSEC) and the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) Examinations, Trotman, like Education Minister Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, believes that the education system is dwindling.

Convinced that the education system is on “life support” Dr. Roopnaraine has recently issued a directive to carry out audits in schools countrywide. The results of the audits have confirmed the Minister’s conviction that the system is indeed “creaking” and is on “life support”.

The reason for the system “creaking”, as is reported, is the long existence of “outmoded” methods that belong to a previous era. In hemming this downfall, Dr. Roopnaraine has said the system needs to be equipped with new technologies for Guyana to see an actual revolution in terms of education delivery.

The Government has therefore taken this into consideration and has decided to push for technological advancement in schools, starting with investing laptops in teachers.

Sharing similar views to those of Dr. Roopnaraine and Trotman is President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), Mark Lyte, who told this publication that salary increases for teachers is not sufficient for an enhancement package; what is needed is also to equip the teachers with better instruments to deliver the content in schools.

The One Laptop Per Family Project recently received a visit from Minister of State Joseph Harmon, who dismissed approximately 45 employees. In justifying this move in one section of the media, Harmon said: “It was not wise to have so many persons employed in the project when there no work for them to do.”

Malfunctioning laptops were one of the startling discoveries made during Minister Harmon’s visit to the OLPF headquarters recently. He detailed that while some were stacked up and not being utilized, the money for the project is being used to paid staff that are not “doing anything.”

Trotman reiterated similar sentiments and highlighted that the move to dismiss employees at OLPF was not a “political” decision, but one in which the Government felt the project was fiscally unsustainable in its current state.

According to a News Source article, Harmon made it clear that the administration does not plan to scrap the project, but rather re-organise it.

Further clarification coming from the Minister also indicates that the project was stalled and is now linked with the E-Governance Project, where an approximately 12 OLPF staff members will be employed.
This project was one of the many projects initiated by the former administration.

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