Re: RLG Laptops For Schools On Sale

The attention of Rlg Communications Group (Gh) Ltd has been drawn to a story with the headline �RLG laptops for schools on sale� credited to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) which has been widely circulated on various media platforms these past few days. We wish to place on record that the story which itself is sourced to findings from a supposed research carried out by the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) has several factual untruths and misrepresentations. The company therefore wishes to react as follows: 1. Mismatch between syllabus, textbooks and software installed on the laptops. We wish to state that in ensuring the installation of educational apps, programme and software for the laptops; RLG was not given any specific syllabus or course to design the laptops for. The laptops supplied by RLG as was required by the Ministry of Education are standard laptops with basic specifications designed to make it easier for teachers and students in the teaching and learning of ICT. It may be of interest to note that RLG went out of its way to purchase and the install Windows 7 Operating System on all the computers to enhance its usage by teachers at a cost of GHC 7.8m, cost completely borne by Rlg. 2. Procurement process The suggestion that the award of the contract for the supply of the said laptops was done through sole sourcing is rather erroneously. The laptops were procured through restricted tendering which awarded the supply of the computers for schools to three companies � RLG, Omatek and Zepto. To date, RLG has met fully the requirements of the contract, delivering every single laptop as was contracted. The coalition may want to confirm if the other companies had fulfilled their part of the contract. 3. Sale of Laptops on the market We wish to state categorically that RLG cannot verify the authenticity of this claim, especially when DOES NOT sell computers meant for the Ministry of Education after supplying the said products to the awarding agency, the Ministry of Education. To date, ier, RLG has produced and delivered to the ministry all the laptops as was contracted. Therefore, if any of the laptops have found their way onto the market, RLG cannot be held responsible for it and the Company would definitely not take responsibility for any such happening, that is, if indeed it can be proven that laptops meant for the Ministry of Education are being sold on the market. 4. Computer illiteracy of Teachers Again, the story claimed without giving any specifics that �most of the teachers and heads had little or no computer skills� and suggested that that made the programme unfeasible. Firstly, it should be self evident even to the coalition that it is not compulsory or a pre-requisite for Headmasters to be computer literate before an ICT programme can be run in any school. Secondly, any serious checks by the Coalition would have established that the Ministry of Education is current undertaking a training programme which targets to train 50,000 teachers in ICT by the close of the year and that indeed, a number of them have already been trained to undertake the teaching of ICT in various schools and complement the number of teachers who already are ICT literate. 5. Conclusion RLG finds this particular work of the supposed Coalition on Education bizarre. It is particularly unimpressed that the coalition could carry out a research on such a pertinent issue without bordering to seek any inputs from the Ministry of Education or RLG or any of the companies involved. Any contact to these outfits would have easily corrected some of the obvious untruths and misrepresentations. Kindly take note of the above and correct accordingly. Issued in Accra, 17th November, 2013.