Mayange primary pupils set to start using green laptops

BUGESERA - Mayange Primary School pupils are to begin using computers, after receiving 477 laptops under the Government’s One Laptop Per Child programme. The computers were supplied by the One Laptop Per Child government program, in collaboration with the Millennium Villages program. At the Thursday handover ceremony, the Executive Secretary of Mayange sector, Francis Nkurunziza, thanked the government and the Millennium Development Villages program for bringing the laptops to the school.He noted the computers were expected to help not only the pupils, but also the whole community. “The software tools and content are designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning,” he said. “Mayange is a model village whose development is supposed to spread to other villages. The development of ICT here will thus be emulated by other villages…this is our overall aim as a government.” Donald Ndahiro, Coordinator of Millennium Development Villages, said that taking ICT to rural areas is vital in cutting the rural-urban digital divide. He said that it is important that the rural population access the benefits of ICT like their urban counterparts, for holistic development. “There is no development without ICT geared education… poverty eradication is possible completely when people have equal opportunities,” he said. Ephraim Nkurunziza, an ICT teacher at the school, said that teaching the subject when pupils have the laptops will be easier and efficient. He added that ICT lessons are naturally more practical than theoretical, and hence the need for hands-on experience.“The availability of the green laptops is a turning point in the history of the school. It will actually improve the general academic performance of the learners. Children will be able to research and conduct more interactive learning than was the case previously,” he said. In 2006, Mayange Primary School with the help of Millennium Development villages was connected to the national electricity grid. Ends