OLPT payment allegations stemmed from misunderstanding

Dec 16, 2015 News

– Chief Education Officer
Earlier in this year, reports were made by several teachers in the region that they were being asked to pay $40,000 to receive laptops which were being distributed under the One Laptop Per Teacher (OLPT) initiative.
Chief Education Officer, Olato Sam, however says that the allegations stemmed from a misunderstanding of the programme under which those monies were requested. He stated that for the past four years, graduates of the Associate Degree Programme from the Cyril Potter College of Education were assisted with half of their payment for their laptops. They were required to pay the other half.
“Now that the government has introduced this new approach where teachers are going to be receiving laptops, there is a different dispensation as these laptops are being given free of charge. “As such,” stated Sam, “there is a bit of mixing up.”
President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union, Mark Lyte, confirmed that indeed there was a mix up between the two programmes. Lyte reported that after several college teachers reported that they were being asked to pay monies in order to receive their laptops, an internal check was carried out. This check, he said, revealed that there were two different programmes which seemed to have been confused.
Sam related that while some teachers have received their laptops, countrywide distribution has not begun. He said that at the moment, they are in the process of “getting all of the information to the Ministry of the Presidency so that the (Ministry) can facilitate it.”
With regards to the shipment of the laptops, Sam stated that the last he has heard, is that they are on their way. “We are expecting that in the relative short future they will be distributed.”
The OLPT initiative was introduced last September and served as a replacement for the One Laptop per Family programme (OLPF).
Since the commencing of the programme, many questions have risen regarding the reason behind the initiative.
Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine in a recent interview stated that the rationale behind the project was to ensure that teachers are brought into the 21st century along with their students.
“What I think the one laptop for teacher does, is give teachers the capacity to keep up with the children in relation to technology,” said Dr. Roopnaraine.
When asked how the laptops will be of use to children with regards to educational attainment, the Minister stated that “the computers will enhance the teacher’s ability to teach the children.” It remained unclear however, how the laptops would be used in a direct effort to accommodate student learning.
The Ministry was said to have initially intended the laptops for students, but after some careful consideration, it was realized that such a project was a bit over ambitious.

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OLPT payment allegations stemmed from misunderstanding

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