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THE Government’s One Laptop Per Family Project, through the provision of laptop computers to a targeted 90,000 families will be leaving a lasting legacy in Guyana’s development paradigm that will positively impact future generations as the country seeks to build a new knowledge-based society. OLPF continues to place smiles on the faces of Guyanese all across the country. In answering a request made by the non-profit Bernice Mansell Foundation, the OLPF contributed 12 laptop computers to the organization last September to be used by students there.
President of the Foundation, Bernice Mansell, said she is grateful to the government and Project coordinators for the kind gesture, since many of the students would not have gotten the opportunity to become computer literate, had it not been for contributors such as the OLPF.
She commended the government for bringing to fruition a project of such magnitude and dynamism. Ms. Mansell assured that the students will make maximum use of the laptops. She noted that her programme helps young people gain “self-esteem, honour and pride.”
Information and Communication Technology lecturer at the Foundation, Nafeeza Rodrigues, lauded the OLPF as a “fantastic initiative which is giving Guyanese families particularly the less fortunate the advantage to know about technology.” She noted that the students are progressing smoothly in the computer classes “basic little things they should know they have grasped, as they become more proficient we want to gradually introduce other areas,” Rodrigues said.
Some twenty-four school drops outs between the ages of 13-19 yearsare benefiting from the laptops and are currently going through basic training in areas such as computer care and maintenance, typing and document creation. Fifty year old Gloria Younge also attends the training classes and finds it very challenging but worthwhile that she’s been afforded the opportunity to become technologically savvy in an era where computer literacy is a necessity. The ICT lecturer said the students are usually divided into groups of 8 or 10 during the training sessions to allow for greater one on one interaction. Rodrigues believes the classes being offered at the organization helpsbeneficiaries to master essential skills through a simple training curriculum. Afternoon classes are also being offered to villagers around Georgetown who are eager to become computer literatebut who cannot afford to attend commercial institutes.
There are many other persons in Guyana who have great stories of the improvement a simple laptop has brought to their lives, one such individual is eighteen year old, Ruth Fraser who is a proud recipient of an OLPF laptop and an ambitious and hardworking student at the Cyril Potter College of Education. She is determined to accomplish her goal of becoming a certified English teacher. The enthusiastic young lady collected her laptop in August last year and since obtaining the device has seen her school life improved dramatically. She even shares the tool with her colleagues at the CPCE. Ruth uses the computer to conduct research at the internet ready college located at Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown where she spends most of her weekdays. Assignments, home-work and other critical class projects are done with ease, she said. “I’m very happy that I have the laptop because it helps me to save money too.” She believes that the One Laptop Per Family Project is dynamic and is improving the lives of many Guyanese who could not afford a laptop, which is vital in today’s rapid changing global landscape. She related that only recently she purchased a printer to be used with the laptop, “this is another plus for me because now I can do everything basically from home,” Fraser said.
There are many other students like Ruth Fraser and those at the Bernice Mansell Foundation that are progressing educationally just by attaining a laptop.
The OLPF project is expected to foster greater connection between classrooms and homes and will make education and information accessible to the entire family. TheGovernment’s ICT strategy and, more specifically, the OLPF project, are directly aimed towards achieving this objective. ICTs are creating opportunities for many people across the world, and the Government of Guyana is ensuring that the Guyanese society is not left behind.
President of the Foundation, Bernice Mansell, said she is grateful to the government and Project coordinators for the kind gesture, since many of the students would not have gotten the opportunity to become computer literate, had it not been for contributors such as the OLPF.
She commended the government for bringing to fruition a project of such magnitude and dynamism. Ms. Mansell assured that the students will make maximum use of the laptops. She noted that her programme helps young people gain “self-esteem, honour and pride.”
Information and Communication Technology lecturer at the Foundation, Nafeeza Rodrigues, lauded the OLPF as a “fantastic initiative which is giving Guyanese families particularly the less fortunate the advantage to know about technology.” She noted that the students are progressing smoothly in the computer classes “basic little things they should know they have grasped, as they become more proficient we want to gradually introduce other areas,” Rodrigues said.
Some twenty-four school drops outs between the ages of 13-19 yearsare benefiting from the laptops and are currently going through basic training in areas such as computer care and maintenance, typing and document creation. Fifty year old Gloria Younge also attends the training classes and finds it very challenging but worthwhile that she’s been afforded the opportunity to become technologically savvy in an era where computer literacy is a necessity. The ICT lecturer said the students are usually divided into groups of 8 or 10 during the training sessions to allow for greater one on one interaction. Rodrigues believes the classes being offered at the organization helpsbeneficiaries to master essential skills through a simple training curriculum. Afternoon classes are also being offered to villagers around Georgetown who are eager to become computer literatebut who cannot afford to attend commercial institutes.
There are many other persons in Guyana who have great stories of the improvement a simple laptop has brought to their lives, one such individual is eighteen year old, Ruth Fraser who is a proud recipient of an OLPF laptop and an ambitious and hardworking student at the Cyril Potter College of Education. She is determined to accomplish her goal of becoming a certified English teacher. The enthusiastic young lady collected her laptop in August last year and since obtaining the device has seen her school life improved dramatically. She even shares the tool with her colleagues at the CPCE. Ruth uses the computer to conduct research at the internet ready college located at Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown where she spends most of her weekdays. Assignments, home-work and other critical class projects are done with ease, she said. “I’m very happy that I have the laptop because it helps me to save money too.” She believes that the One Laptop Per Family Project is dynamic and is improving the lives of many Guyanese who could not afford a laptop, which is vital in today’s rapid changing global landscape. She related that only recently she purchased a printer to be used with the laptop, “this is another plus for me because now I can do everything basically from home,” Fraser said.
There are many other students like Ruth Fraser and those at the Bernice Mansell Foundation that are progressing educationally just by attaining a laptop.
The OLPF project is expected to foster greater connection between classrooms and homes and will make education and information accessible to the entire family. TheGovernment’s ICT strategy and, more specifically, the OLPF project, are directly aimed towards achieving this objective. ICTs are creating opportunities for many people across the world, and the Government of Guyana is ensuring that the Guyanese society is not left behind.
