…donates 100 laptops mainly for hinterland schools
Canadian-based Guyanese technology products inventor Alan Zaakir yesterday donated some 100 laptops to the Ministry of Education to aid in the advancement of the national ICT agenda. Zaakir, who handed over the systems to Education Minister Shaik Baksh at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), also disclosed that another 300 systems will be presented to the ministry shortly.

He said that the gesture is in support of the government’s vision to use information technology as a tool to revolutionise learning and open up commercial and other positive opportunities for young people.

The laptops will be handed over mainly to hinterland schools.

Zaakir also used the opportunity to praise President Jadgeo’s One Lap Top Per Family programme, pointing out that apart from the opportunities that the initiative will make available to young people, it will also position Guyana to be the ICT leader in the region. His business partner Kris Sammy, who accompanied him at the occasion, expressed similar sentiments.

Baksh, accepting the donation, expressed gratitude to the donor and noted that the systems will be of significant help in accelerating the ministry’s ICT agenda.

This year, he said, that some 2,000 teachers across the country will be trained to use the computer as a teaching and learning tool; and under the World Bank US$4.2M funded Teacher Reform Project, new state-of-the-art laboratories will be constructed at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) and the Faculty of Education and Humanities, University of Guyana.

Baksh underlined that the goal of these innovations is to ensure that every teacher in the system and those leaving the training college are equipped with the requisite skills to use the computer as a tool to enhance and support learning.

ICT is a major plank of the ministry’s 2008-2013 Education Strategic Plan, and the visionary documentation places significant attention on the knowledge deepening process and the realisation of government’s vision to bridge the digital divide.

The ministry, in the Strategic Plan, is hoping to equip all secondary schools and 50 percent of primary schools with IT laboratories by 2013.

To date, work on 70 of 110 secondary schools has been completed, and Baksh has reported that the remainder will be completed this year. Also, some 60 primary schools have already been equipped with IT laboratories and another 40 will be outfitted this year.

The government has approved some US$1.4M for the purchase of computers for secondary schools and the Global Partnership for Literacy (GPL) has made a commitment to install systems in 50 schools.

GPL has so far done so at six schools and Baksh said that he has been in contact with the organization to honour its stated commitment. Each school will have at least 30 computers.

Several alumnus associations, Non-Governmental Organizations and other agencies have also come forward in support of the drive.

Recently, the Ministry of Education joined forces with the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and Microsoft to focus attention on the implementation of plans to develop the capacity of local teachers to use technology more effectively in the classroom.

In the next six months, several essential activities will be completed, namely the development of a new set of training modules for teachers, a thorough review of two key components of the ICT in Education Initiative, a comprehensive audit of the current capacity of Guyana’s teachers to use ICT effectively, working with global partners to secure international accreditation for these training modules, and the implementation of a robust, three-tiered governance mode

Last year, working with the partnership, the Commonwealth Secretariat developed a roadmap to implement UNESCO’s Information and communication Technology (ICT) Competence Framework for Teachers.

This internationally recognized framework provides clear pathways for teachers to develop their ability to use computers effectively to support teaching and learning.

The ministry is also moving to double the number of students sitting IT at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.