The “One Laptop Per Child” OLPC project will provide extra 100,000 laptops to ensure that all 416 administrative districts of the country have computers in every school.
The project, launched in 2008 by President Paul Kagame, has already distributed 80,000 laptops in 145 schools across the country.
“We will receive additional 100,000 laptops in May 2012,” said Nkubito Bakuramutsa OLPC coordinator at the Ministry of Education.
He explained that the first phase, which focused on five schools per district, will end soon.
“We plan to complete the first phase by the end of March. For now, all districts are covered, we move towards sectors. We want to ensure that all sectors of 416 countries have a school where the OLPC is operational, “he said.
Commenting on the installation of electricity in schools where there is no electrical current, Bakuramutsa has indicated they have an approach that varies with the location of the school.
“For schools that are far from the gate, we work closely with the project support the deployment of electricity within the Department of Infrastructure to install solar energy.Closer to the grid, we work with district officials and local leaders of the EWSA to complete the connection of schools to the national grid, “he said.
The OLPC project has trained 1,500 teachers and principals of schools and has a second round of training which will cover 1,200 others.
The computers were distributed free by the government, there is also another arrangement where private schools buy these computers at a discounted price of $ 200 per computer (approx. 120,000 Rwandan francs).
According Théogène Sibomana, headmaster of the Kigali camp, the children learned the various applications using laptops.
“They are interested in using laptops and this led us to double the time that children spend on the machines at school,” according Théogène Sibomana.
The OLPC program will provide access to digital course to all the teachings.
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