Fourth-grade students from nearly 90 schools in Podlasie are waiting for laptops to be received under the government program. Most schools that have this problem are in Białystok itself. The mayor of the city declares that he has completed the formalities and comments that the Ministry of Digital Affairs, which is responsible for this project, is clearly in a mess.
According to the assumptions of the government program “Laptop for students”, each fourth-grader is to receive a computer that is to be used for “learning and developing digital competences”. However, it is mid-September and students from nearly 90 schools in Podlasie still do not have equipment.
– The Ministry of Digitization, which is responsible for this project, claims that local government officials did not complete the formalities, namely they did not send the appropriate documents to the ministry and that is why there are no laptops. But the problem is that local governments say something completely different – said our reporter Adrian Zaborowski on TVN24.
Fourth grade students are to receive laptops (illustrative photo) TVN24
The authorities of Białystok are surprised
President Tadeusz Truskolaski announced that as far as Białystok is concerned, the application submitted to the ministry concerns 44 schools.
– There are to be 2,783 laptops worth almost PLN 8 million. After receiving the surprising information that our contract did not exist, we provided appropriate explanations. It seems that, unfortunately, there is a mess in the Ministry of Digital Affairs. I rule out conscious lying – he said in front of the TVN24 camera.
They verify documents. The laptops are expected to be delivered by the end of September
As we read in the announcement on the website of the Ministry of Digital Affairs, the minister Janusz Cieszyński explains that “after Friday’s (September 8 – editor’s note) publication of the list of municipalities that, for various reasons, did not complete the formalities and therefore could not receive the equipment, COAR (Government Administration Service Center – editor’s note) received a lot of contracts, but also corrected or supplemented documents.
The Ministry informs that the laptops are to be delivered to schools by the end of SeptemberTVN24
The ministry also writes about a very large number of contracts and documents in an e-mail received by our reporter after he asked when students would receive laptops.
– Document verification is in progress. The ministry also adds that new laptop contracts are signed every day. There is also important information that equipment deliveries are to be completed by the end of this month, said Adrian Zaborowski.
Main photo source: TVN24