Option of computers in every Amerindian home to be tested

– President

Georgetown, GINA, September 2, 2011

The establishment of a bank of computers in each Amerindian village is still on the cards but the option of distributing devices to individual households in the hinterland will be tested, according to President Bharrat Jagdeo.

The Government is expecting 11,000 solar panels within the next month that are sized at 65 watts and with computers operating at 28 watts may be possible to pilot the new plan which President Jagdeo announced.

“We still have to test whether the computer running on 28 watts is a solid computer… eventually we may very well be able to get every home a computer there too,” President Jagdeo told members of the media at a press conference today.

He had assured the Amerindians that efforts will be made to equip each of the computer banks with Internet access, so that “all the kids in those communities and everyone else can also learn those computers.”

At the launch of Amerindian Heritage Month 2011, President Jagdeo had noted that “we may be able to depart from our strategy, which is slightly different on the coast… where we were doing banks of computers in each village, to actually give each home a computer too because they will have a means of powering it,” President Jagdeo said.

At the last National Toshao Council meeting in July, Amerindian leaders were assured that the solar panel project that will bring electricity to every household in their villages will move ahead as planned despite the impasse in the disbursement of the forest funds earned from Norway. The project will be implemented at a cost of US$3M.

Cabinet – the council of ministers chaired by the President – had approved the procurement of up to 11,000 65W Solar Home Systems under the Hinterland Electrification Programme.
Recently the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs distributed 574 solar panels to 16 Amerindian communities in Regions One, Two and Nine.

The Amerindian Affairs Ministry was tasked over the last year with distributing 1,000 (15-watt) solar panels to 23 communities and these 16 areas are the first beneficiaries.

President Jagdeo has been touting the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector as one with immense potential to generate greater disposable income and lead to the creation of thousands of jobs.

In April of 2011 laptops were included in the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs’ assistance package to Toshaos in over 20 Amerindian communities in the Rupununi, Region Nine while in July of that year, eight hinterland scholarship students housed in the Hinterland Students Dormitory at Liliendaal, received laptops from the OLPF Secretariat as part of a school based pilot project.

The beneficiaries were given the computers with the understanding that they will train other members of their household and their respective communities during the August vacation.
The Hinterland Students Dormitory is itself internet ready as it was outfitted with a computer room with free internet access, compliments of GT&T.