– 450 distributed

AS Government continues on its pursuit to ensure a computer literate society through its One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) initiative, over 450 Region 5 residents Monday benefited from this programme.The distribution exercise was executed in several communities, with the largest held at the Novar Primary School where 296 laptops were presented to residents of Novar and surrounding communities.

At Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice, 120 residents benefited from a similar distribution exercise.
In addition, 76 laptops were distributed at the Mortice Primary School, Wash Clothes, Mahaicony, while 36 residents of Bladen Hall received their devices.
Residents of these communities expressed their gratitude to the Government for this undertaking, which they pointed out will help in the areas of communication and education.
Parmeshwarie Parsen, 78, said, “I am excited and happy and delighted …to learn to use a laptop.” She added that she has three granddaughters and this laptop will aid in their education.
Chandrawattie Doobay meanwhile, said “I am happy and I know lots of people here are happy, we will benefit a lot from these computers, they will help to build our knowledge and expose us to a lot of things.”
Bibi Shareefa expressed her joy and gratitude for receiving the laptop, which she said will aid in her communication with her children abroad. “I am happy to receive this laptop because I have a lot of uses for it. I have my kids all over the world, and I can connect with them through face booking, skyping and so on.”
These beneficiaries will also undergo five days of training in the basic use of a laptop. Registration and training in some of these communities commenced Monday, while others started yesterday.
The OLPF distribution programme was pioneered by Former President Bharrat Jagdeo and has been ongoing since October 2011. It will continue throughout 2014 and 2015, as it aims to ensure that every household countrywide is computer literate through the ownership of a laptop and basic training.
This programme also aims to ensure that 90,000 laptops are to be in the hands of Guyanese. The current phase of distribution is expected to conclude in September.

(GINA)