Whith­field Turn­er

It seems the idea of free lap­tops for stu­dents is not con­fined to this coun­try. The gov­ern­ment of St Vin­cent and the Grenadines this week said it was look­ing at the pos­si­bil­i­ty of pro­vid­ing lap­top com­put­ers to its pri­ma­ry and sec­ondary stu­dents. Prime Min­is­ter Dr Ralph Gon­salves says his gov­ern­ment has been en­gag­ing the gov­ern­ment of Por­tu­gal to pro­vide the com­put­ers. He said this ini­tia­tive was part of the Ed­u­ca­tion Rev­o­lu­tion Pro­gramme.

Gon­salves said more than 30,000 stu­dents were ex­pect­ed to ben­e­fit from this project which is ex­pect­ed to cost the gov­ern­ment in ex­cess of $70 mil­lion. Mean­while, Op­po­si­tion Leader Arn­him Eu­stace al­so made a sim­i­lar promise. At a con­ven­tion of his New De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty, Eu­stace said if the NDP was re­turned to pow­er fol­low­ing the next gen­er­al elec­tion, he would give lap­tops to every pri­ma­ry school stu­dent. A gen­er­al elec­tion is due in St Vin­cent and the Grenadines by March next year.