| In the past three weeks more than 85 educational institutions were connected to the Government’s fibre optic network. This disclosure was made yesterday by Minister with responsibility for Telecommunications, Ms. Catherine Hughes.Minister of Telecommunications, Ms. Catherine HughesHughes, who was speaking at the launch of the One Laptop Per Teacher (OLPT) Initiative at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) Turkeyen campus, noted, “This is an exciting time in the movement of ICT (Information Communication Technology) in Guyana…”Hughes announced with pride that the connectivity move was realised in less than a year of operation of the eGovernment Agency.The eGovernment Unit, currently the execution arm of the Ministry of Public Telecommunications, introduced a countrywide programme some months ago to set up ICT hubs in urban and rural community centers – in towns and villages.The institutions recently connected to the government network include: five Regional Education Offices; both campuses of the University of Guyana, 10 technical and vocational institutions in regions Two, Three, Four,Air Max Scontate Donne, Five and Six and all secondary schools from Corentyne to Charity.According to Hughes, the facilities that have been connected are now able to provide internet access for the benefit of teachers and students.“Our ICT connectivity programme is critical to our nation’s development. It lays the foundation upon which we could have placed this very essential One Laptop Per Teacher initiative,” said Minister Hughes.She underscored that there is no doubt that higher levels of internet penetration have a positive impact on the national economy and has helped to improve the standard of living of their citizens in developing countries.Internet connectivity,Jerseys Cheap NFL, Hughes explained, also brings with it improved opportunities for E-education, that is, utilising technology to virtually transport a teacher in a classroom in Georgetown to an indigenous community via platforms like Skype.Internet access,College Jerseys, she added, allows Government agencies to provide better health and other social services to citizens.“We started out in Berbice as far away as Liverpool and Baracara up the Canje Creek. We are setting up community hubs on the East Coast of Demerara, the East Bank of Berbice, and in the mining town of Linden,” Minister Hughes related yesterday.She assured that the technicians and engineers attached to the programme are working swiftly to carry out the mandate that was handed to the Telecommunications Ministry.“That mandate is to create a knowledge-based, ICT-enabled society in the shortest possible time. We have to ensure that we provide the physical infrastructure such as fibre optic and long term evolution (LTE) networks; we have to provide the equipment and find appropriate housing, generally in community centers,Cheap NFL Jerseys, for the computers and peripherals; and we have to provide education and training so that all of our citizens can take better advantage of the opportunities that await,” Hughes added.She noted, too,Cheap Jerseys China, “We will soon begin to train the managers of these community ICT hubs, and very shortly the first three tech support units will be set up in the RDC compounds at Anna Regina, Linden and New Amsterdam.”The technicians assigned to those units would be the “First Response teams” equipped to fix minor problems and refer the major ones that will emerge along the way, the Minister said.She added, “We are at the beginning of quite an exciting journey. Like everything about Information Communication Technologies, every turn along that road to digital competency opens us up to new possibilities,Wholesale NFL Jerseys China, new ways to ensure that every person in Guyana has access to the worldwide web.”“We’re looking forward to the expansion programme that will extend the fibre optic and LTE networks into inland communities, into new towns like Mabaruma and Mahdia, into long existing communities like Kwakwani and Orealla and Hogg Island,” the Telecommunications Minister related yesterday. |
