Govt. to buy 2,450 tablets for GOAL scholarship awardees

Dec 16, 2021 News

– opens tender for 460 to hinterland students

The National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) on Tuesday opened 10 bids from companies interested in procuring tablets (electronic device) for the Ministry of Public Service.
The tablets, according to the Ministry, are to facilitate online learning, through the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) 20,000 scholarships programme.
Speaking to Kaieteur News on Wednesday, Director of GOAL, Professor Jacob Opadeyi said that they are looking to procure 450 tablets for awardees, mainly for those in the Hinterland regions. He noted that these students even though awarded a scholarship are unable to access their education because of the lack of resources for the online classes. According to Professor Opadeyi these electronic devices will be placed at different government facilities in their respective communities. In addition, GOAL will also be providing a total of 14 computers to different centers and schools in some of the communities for students.
The director mentioned too that next year they are looking to procure about 2,000 more of these tablets to facilitate students with their online learning. The GOAL programme which was launched earlier this year is being managed by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Public Service.
The establishment of the GOAL programme was to provide learning opportunities for Guyanese countrywide at no cost. To date over 6,000 Guyanese would have benefitted from the initiative. Also opened at NPTAB were bids for consultancy services for the construction of the St. Joseph High School building—a project which falls under the Ministry of Education. Eight companies interested in this project, on Tuesday only, submitted their financial proposal.
Below are the companies and their bids: