THE aim of the Office of the President’s One Laptop Per Family Project, brainchild of former President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, includes preparing the younger generation with digital and technological advancements to meet the challenges of an evolving world.

There is also the aim of positioning the population as a whole to be sufficiently equipped to take up, both locally and worldwide, evolving jobs with operations steeped in technology.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds made this disclosure while  distributing laptop computers to residents of Cane Grove and Ann’s Grove, Upper East Coast Demerara, yesterday morning. Prime Minister Hinds said acquisition of the laptops was made possible partly due to their payment of taxes to the government thorough various means and forms.
According to him, while the computers were secured through a grant to the Government of Guyana from the people and Government of China, there was also the input on the part of the Guyana Government, with money from the Consolidated Fund being able to fund the cost of half of the total amount of computers acquired for the project, while the grant accounted for the other half.
PM Hinds called on those who are trained and versed in the use of the computers to take the time to ensure that the jobs they are engaging in are properly done and  commendable in the end, as this would see persons from Guyana being able to find a place in the very small bracket of persons globally whose works are admired by millions.
In relating the genesis of the OLPF project, the Prime Minister said a survey done had determined that out of an approximate twenty-five thousand families, only a few  thousands might be financially able to secure computers and have access to computers; the rest had no chance of securing a laptop for the family. In deciding to make the OLPF project a reality, consideration was given to children, parents and grandparents who would benefit from the project, the Prime Minister added.
The initiative was pushed very hard by the former president, and with the programme now approximately two years off the ground and servicing dozens of communities across the country, there are some expectations, Hinds said.
These include the speedy learning in the use of the computers; the teaching of those who are slow, or have no knowledge in the use of computers; and putting systems in place to facilitate added training upgrade of oneself in use of the instruments.
The Prime Minister cautioned the recipients not to use the computers and the Internet access to indulge in unlawful activities, since the intended use of the computers is for educational and developmental purposes. He said the works being done at call centres locally are testimony to the extent of the needs and demands for computer literate people. It also shows the scope for providing jobs and facilitating opportunities, with at least one call centre in the country doing services for several overseas countries,
providing employment for approximately two thousand persons directly.
The need for technologically qualified persons to advance the education and health sectors did not escape the Prime Minister’s thoughts. He related cases in point to show how, with the computer, knowledge and services are spread worldwide.