THE Education Ministry has explained that a batch of students of the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) paid $38,000 in 2011 for netbook computers, as per an agreement between the Government of Guyana and the World Bank. This disclosure came in response to a question posed in the National Assembly regarding why students were made to pay for those devices.

Government has partnered with the World Bank to fund the US$5.12M Guyana Improving Teacher Education Project (GITEP), aimed at improving the effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of quality teacher education.

Page 25 of the project’s operational manual states that the cost will be shared for the procurement of the netbooks for first year Distance Education students and tutors, and lecturers at CPCE and the University of Guyana.

IDA is subsidising 50 percent of the cost, while the recipient will finance the other 50 percent.

In September 2011, upon payment of the agreed sum of $38,000, students who entered the college received their netbooks. Staff members paid $40,000 for the same facility.

Additionally, Government made available netbooks for the 2010-2012 batch of students who graduated from the Associate Degree in Education (ADE) programme. In this regard, a total of 219 netbooks were provided free of cost.

Thus far, 165 teachers have uplifted their netbooks. The two remaining centres in Georgetown and Linden, which are slated to receive 11 and 43 netbooks respectively, have been notified, but to date have not collected theirs.

The objective of GITEP is consistent with the Government of Guyana’s Education Strategic Plan 2008-2013, which aims at raising the standard of living in Guyana through improving education in its overall effectiveness.