IT Consultant, Education Minister say Guyana on cusp of IT leadership in Region
The Zara/CIOG Computer Training Centre and Library had its genesis in January of this year during an informal discussion between members of the Zara team and CIOG officials and has fructified in a state-of-the-art computer training centre and a well-stocked library at CIOG headquarters in Woolford Avenue. At the opening of the facility IT Consultant, Naresh Singh, who spearheaded the technical component of the project and conducted a preliminary one-week workshop with the students, told the audience that in his over twenty-five years of experience of computer technology, he saw the revolution as it evolved through its various rites of passage.
He said that on the battleship “Missouri” was a typewriter, of which he took a picture, because these instruments were predecessors to the computer as we know it today, and alluded to the painstaking and time-consuming task of duplicating a couple of hundreds of letters on a typewriter which, using computer technology, is extremely efficient and time-effective.
Singh explained the finer points of computer technology, beginning with the peer-to-peer network, which does not easily facilitate volume transportation of shared information, and elucidated that thousands of computers networked to the same system, instead of that basic format of transmitting through individual computers, needs a client server enviroment to be more effective.  The latter, according to Singh, has one server with one master database and one user account, facilitating a wide spectrum of access to information by users.
Within the Guyana landscape, Singh referred to a scenario where there is sharing of printers and scanners and other equipment, but he said that this is not where the world is in terms of technology.  He said that here we mainly have a local area network, which is a computer network in a physical environment, but a wide area network is more effective because it is a network where physical local area networking is inter-connected so accessing of files, for instance, from  a computer located at one local area at one end of the country from another located at another end of the country, and even trans-continental, is possible, as is used by banks, for instance.  Using a power-point presentation, Singh illustrated  that trillions of records can be accessed in a matter of seconds, through an intricate networking system.  He identified “Steve”, a computer engineer, who was managing the intricate technology and stressed on Guyana’s need to produce such professionals skilled in information technology so as to move this country’s economy forward.  According to Singh, without this requisite skills bank of professional IT experts, Guyana’s economy would be like running on a treadmill – building up a sweat but getting nowhere.
Speaking about disposal income, Singh expanded on the theme by using the US as an example, where someone like Steve makes an above-average income in the USA.  He said that every company is outsourcing outside of the US because they are reluctant to pay that amount for such expertise, and that if we had the requisite skills then Guyana could attract some of that outsourced business and consequently some of that disposable income, which could be integral to moving the economy forward.  He said that such an eventuality is the vision Zara donates to this country, and not merely computer centres.
Singh optimistically forecasted an amazing future where Guyana could become the data-mining warehouse for the Caribbean and possibly South America, because, for instance, Google is actually projecting to build data strorage centres underwater because land usage for such activity is too expensive, but Guyana is blessed with a lot of land space, which could be put to profitable and non-traditional useage.  He said three main advantages Guyana has that could give this country an edge are land, location, and language.
Highlighting the importance of data-mining warehouses to IT providers, Singh said that these are where data-centres process algorithims and data and develop profiles, an essential one being marketing trends.  He quoted as a example where, recently, one day a data-mining warehouse profiled a report that, on Thursday nights, parents with an infant purchases from the stores for the weekend a six-pack of beer and pampers, which prompted the stores to restructure their display and marketing policies to facilitate this customer base.
Modern IT facilities also provide for back-up centres, so that information would not be lost in the event of a catastrophe occurring in one location, because it would be stored in the back-up system and could be retrieved from any location in the world and Singh said that Guyana could be the back-up centre for the Caribbean and South America because this country because, apart from negligible instances of flooding and drought, there are no occurrences of natural disasters such as hurricanes and other catastrophic phenomena.
Explaning about “firewalls’, Singh said that this is an IT term that describes a system that blocks viruses from sources such as the internet infiltrating computer networks, and that providers such as Microsoft and Amazon are located behind those firewalls.
Encouragement is provided him for his initiatives because he has discovered that Guyanese are smart people, according to Singh, because his experiences have proven this fact through the responses he has received during the various workshops and training programmes he has conducted over the years in this country.  He quoted as an example the brilliant electrical engineering done at the Zara/CIOG Centre by student of the Cove and John Hindu College, young Sukhu, who had graduated from the Guysuco engineering training programme and whose attitude to a work ethic was lauded by Singh.
Singh said that technology is evolving at such a rapid pace that in a few years these computers would become obsolete because companies such as Microsoft would not be selling their software to individuals, but would instead be renting their services for reasons of piracy elimination and profitability.  This would be done through web servers providing the software, even through a television.
He said that, toward this end, if Guyana has the facilities for a data-centre, then Microsoft and other software developers could use this country to push software to the Caribbean and possibly South America, because of our peculiar location as the gateway to this continent.
Singh informed his audience about a programme called the Microsoft Certified System Engineers, whcih basically came about because Microsoft is concerned about users of its products being knowledgeable about developing their “vital and vibrant network”.  Microsoft set out a set of programmes from which exams are set, and if anyone passes seven of those exams, they will be provided a certified engineering certificate.  Singh said that within two years Guyana could produce such qualified engineers from his assessments of the performance of the students from his various classes.
He said that he was proposing to produce 105 Microsoft system engineers – with the placement of 35 students in each of the centres the Zara team has established, in a programme of a two-year duration that would cost merely an approximate US$250,000, but that the vision needs ultra effort to maximise the benefits of such a programmes, primarily the most highly-qualified teachers, who may have to be sourced from outside of Guyana.  He informed the audience that the IT facility was boosted by a library with computer research capacity because it is important that students first need to read well before embarking on any other activity, hence an integrated approach is essential so the training centres were established in conjuction with librar
ies.  He made reference to the “big-brother/big-sister” literacy programme that is a integral facet to the educational processes at the Cove and John Ashram, which has drawn dozens of participants from the East Coast corridor, irrespective of race, colour, or creed, because the Ashram’s programmes are essentially based on education and empowerment of children, in every dimension.
Minister of Education, Shaikh Baksh, concurred with the arguments proffered by Singh on the importance of literacy and the opportunities IT can provide Guyana, stating that these are key planks on which the Ministry is developing the sector, and that some of the interventions are already in place, which include remediation programmes at schools countrywide at the various levels.   He said that libraries are in the process of being established in every educational institution, including technical institutes and industrial training centres, which are required to run, concurrent to vocational skils development programmes, a basic course in literacy.
According to the Minister, the same applies to the IT component in the education sector.  He said there are sixty schools in the country at the primary level using a software package known as the Success Maker, where the technology has been integrated into the teaching programme of the schools.  He said that this would be expanded to over 200 primary schools over the next couple of years, because the Government has a holistic plan to develop education in the nation, using the technology to facilitate learning, especially in the areas of numeracy and literacy.  He stated that IT taking the lead is part of the education sector’s strategic plan and informed the audience that, by next year at the latest every secondary school in the country would have complete computer laboratories.
He said that President Bharrat Jagdeo is committed to this eventuality and is providing the resourses to develop IT facilities and expand the networking systems, citing President Jagdeo’s recognition of the importance of IT to the development of Guyana’s socio-economic fabric and his plan to computerize every home in this country within the immediate future, probably beginning next year.  He alluded to the similar centre to the Zara/CIOG’s that was commissioned at the Cove and John Ashram a few months ago, saying that these initiatives run concurrent to the Government’s plan for the entire educational sector, with a projection to institute computer training programmes in every school, and said that 500 teachers have already been trained in partnership with the Commonwealth of Learning and Microsoft, ant that modules have already been developed.  He commended and thanked members of the Diaspora and local entrepreneurs, with special mention of Global programme for Literacy Development, for partnering with Government to develop the various sectors, especially the education sector. Minister Baksh informed the audience that Government is also working in partnership with Microsoft for software development and offered free of cost certified training to improve competency of teachers in private institutions to bring onstream equitable opportunities for IT education for all the children in the country.
Agreeing with Naresh Singh on the importance of facilities for connectivity, the Minister said that the bandwith is currently being expanded by Government and GT&T and assured that the Government shares a similar vision to Singh’s  and is currently working on developing a project document to expand the IT programme outside of the school system, using some of the LCDS fund from Norway, with a projected minimum of 100 computers in every training centre in the country and the eleven resource centres in the hinterland.
He said that adults and out-of-school youths would be trained in these centres after formal classes, stating that Guyana is preparing to make a quantum leap to catch up on the IT revolution that has taken the world by storm.  He invited Singh to partner with Government in these initiatives by sharing his vision, his expertise and his experience to develop requisite and appropriate programmes that would optimize Guyana’s potential for technological advancement.
He said it is the vision of the President to lead in IT development in the Caribbean and South America, which is compatible with Singh’s projections.
Member of the Zara team, Sarwan Kumar Budhu, reiterated Singh’s call for literacy programmes and accentuated the need for students to know to read well before embarking on any other educational pursuit.  He said that this is the reason that the team establishes libraries as an essential and integral component to the computer labs that they have created because they recognise that literacy and skills-training have to be conjunctive to each other.
He spoke of the primary importance to the world of healthcare, climate change and green IT, referring to the laptop produced by India at a cost of US$35, with a projected reduction in the near future, which will be powered through solar energy and will consequently be cost-effective, especially in terms of Guyana’s ambitious initiative to providing computers to each home.
He said that the team is dedicated to Guyana because it is home to members of the Diaspora, and that their focus on education is paramount because enhanced education, especially with a focus on IT, will redound to the benefit of future generations.
In his address Jay Sobraj told the students that they have to raise the bar, and that parents and teachers, though essential to the process, are mere facilitators, while students themselves have to raise the levels in their scholastic and ultimate professional endeavours.  This, he said, is the secret of the success of most persons, including members of the team, who have all advanced so much in their various spheres of endeavour that they are now committed to providing to Guyanese children opportunities that they have never had.  He adjured the students to make full use of the opportunities provided, because they are the leaders of the future.