By CLINT CHAN TACK Thursday, September 30 2010

click on pic to zoom in

Teacher Kamla: Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar gives Marcus Gill, a form one student of Success Laventille Secondary School, tips on how to use ...

« prev photo next photo »

ALL STUDENTS who sit the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) over the next five years will be provided with a laptop computer from Government when they enter secondary school, stated Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday as she concluded the first distribution of some of the 3,000 laptops which arrived in the country last Friday, to students at Success Laventille Secondary School, South East Port-of-Spain Secondary School and Lakshimi Girls Hindu College, where she once worked as a teacher.

Recalling that the provision of laptops to SEA students was the first election campaign promise which the People’s Partnership pledged to keep within its first 120 days in government, the Prime Minister assured her audience at Lakshimi Girls that from this year until 2015, “every single Form One student in this country will benefit with a laptop from the Government.”

Persad-Bissessar said while Government does not have the money to provide laptops for all secondary students, it was her hope that over the next five years, “every single child from forms one to five will have the laptop.” Observing that this country’s first Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams once said the nation’s future was in its students’ book bags, Persad-Bissessar said: “The future of the nation is now in these laptops.” The students laughed when the Prime Minister quipped, “I wish I had a laptop when I was 11 plus.”

Speaking afterwards with reporters, Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh said the remaining 21,000 laptops should arrive in the country in the coming weeks and all computers should be handed over to students and teachers by the end of November. Gopeesingh revealed that Government will be inviting tenders for companies to provide laptops in early January 2011. Asked if Hewlett Packard (HP) which was awarded an $83 million contract to provide 24,000 laptops this year would be doing the same thing next year, Gopeesingh replied, “No. It’s going to another open invitation to tender every year. Then things might change. The transparency and accountability will be ensured and continue to be ensured.”

Gopeesingh was optimistic that Government would be able to source the necessary funds over the next five years to continue this initiative. In terms of integrating the laptops into the school curriculum, he said: “We have a number of areas in the curriculum already integrated in them. Maths, Science and Spanish.” Gopeesingh added that additional subjects will be integrated into the laptops and Government will partner with the Commonwealth of Learning and IDA Singapore in this regard. Any damaged laptops will be repaired by HP.

At Success Laventille, Persad-Bissessar said the name of the school made her choose it as the first one to distribute laptops to form one students. Dismissing claims that students with laptops would be targeted by criminals, Persad-Bissessar said each laptop is equipped with security features that would discourage any attempt to steal it. The Prime Minister received standing ovations from students at all three schools she visited yesterday.