THE One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) Secretariat’s verification process is off to a smooth start.
A team of verification officers yesterday visited several homes in Sophia to verify the documents of several applicants in the area. This aspect of the project will be continuous and will cover all regions in Guyana and aims at reaching the three priority groups in the first phase. This includes single parents, differently-abled and other persons who are considered as members of low income families.
This aspect is a part of building the OPLF momentum.
Meanwhile, another component saw the evolution of the programme into a critical phase where students who were part of the school-based pilot project, which commenced in January, were given the clearance to take the laptops from the respective training hubs and into their homes.
Verification and Customer Relations Manager, Shanelle Ferguson explained that the team is doing house to house verification of applicants in all the various fields in Sophia.
The house to house verification aids in clarifying applicants’ information including their National Identification, address, up-date information such as change of address, employment, marital status and disabilities. This process ensures they are in the right priority groups.
She pointed out that the same process is being replicated in every region. The verification process initially began in September, and is expected to end way before the laptops arrive in Guyana.
Ferguson emphasised that, thus far, some 11, 000 people have been verified with close to 2000 persons being reached per week, particularly since the OLPF Secretariat now has a full force of verification officers, in Region 4. Additionally, there have been good responses in the other
regions.
Following verification, the applicant will receive a letter of approval that outlines the set ICT hub for orientation, receipt of the laptop and training.
The OLPF programme is the brain-child of President Bharrat Jagdeo and seeks to empower poor, working class and disadvantaged Guyanese with the means of developing their educational abilities, livelihood and personal ambitions through the use of technology.
The project is slated to be carried out over a two-year period and will place laptop computers in the hands of 90,000 families. The families who receive the laptops are expected to give some amount of community service.
The provision of training, technical support and internet access are being established via a network of 200 hubs, of which community-based organisations, youth groups, learning institutions and religious entities are vying to be accredited.