HEWLETT PACKARD (HP) has been awarded an $83 million contract to supply Trinidad and Tobago with 24,000 fully loaded laptops for distribution to successful Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination pupils.

Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh made the announcement during a news conference at the Ministry's head office in St Clair yesterday.

The cost is almost twice the amount initially announced by Gopeesingh at the July 15 post-Cabinet news conference at the Prime Minister's Office in St Clair. Nevertheless, the Minister insisted the benefits would extend far beyond their investment.

"The Government firmly believes this is a good investment in the children and, by extension, the human resource of this country," he said.

The Minister said he was "sure that the public would agree that we must secure the best value for money while making safety and security an absolute priority".

The Ministry of Education annually receives a budget of around $4 billion and Gopeesingh said the $83 million allocated for the laptops will come out of the Ministry's purse.

He added that the laptops will be designed to empower the next generation with the technological skills needed to take this country forward.

The computers will be outfitted with tracers and special security software that will prevent the children from accessing "bad sites", he added.

"The Ministry has placed specific emphasis on ensuring the technical relevance and applicability of the machines, particularly as the laptops are expected to serve students for multiple years," Gopeesingh said

"As a result, the laptops will be outfitted with... faster processing speeds, improved wireless capability, Bluetooth (wireless) connectivity, larger internal storage, faster hard drive speed, extended battery life, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 and Learning Essentials 2.0 for Microsoft Office."

Teachers have already been enrolled in a special training programme geared toward teaching them how to productively use the laptop in the classroom and to teach pupils who would not have had previous exposure to computers how to get the most out of them.

In addition, Gopeesingh said "all 151 secondary schools will have information technology technicians assigned to each one of them" to further assist and educate pupils and teachers on the use of the laptop.

When asked specifically how they intended to ensure the laptops are not stolen, the Minister said they intended to run a campaign outlining that stealing them would not be beneficial, as they would be locked, once reported, and the child would eventually lose out.

Gopeesingh said they are working to ensure that all schools which are under construction will be completed in time for the start of the new term next month.