Ieva Ilves: Memorandum “Computer for every child” parties start building team for implementation activities

The inaugural meeting of the Council of the Memorandum of Cooperation “Computer for every child” at the Riga Castle took place on 28 May. It focused on organisational matters and current priorities of the Council in attaining the goals of Memorandum, i.e., ensuring that students and teachers in Latvia have access to appropriate computers for efficient learning by 2025.

Ieva Ilves, President’s adviser for information and digital policy and Chair of the Council, is convinced that the kick-off meeting was productive and Council members agreed that a lot of ground will need to be covered in the next months, therefore meetings will be held monthly. ‘Similar to other new initiatives ‘Computer for every child’ is faced with enormous workload in the first months of the project, with new school year quickly approaching and supporting European investments expected to reach Latvia soon. We need to build a strong and reliable team where all partners share common vision, aims and objectives and are ready to meet the agreed deadlines. Sense of unity was palpable at the inaugural meeting and I am pleased that we have started working on reaching the goal of making sure that students and teachers in Latvia have access to appropriate computers for efficient learning by 2025,’ stressed Mrs Ilves.

One of the first project activities is a joint computer procurement. Council members discussed institutional arrangements and experts required to make the acquisition of computers successful.

Allocation of funding required to launch procurement procedures could be decided by the government in one of its nearest meetings, added Mrs Ilves.

Project data:

Egils Levits, President of Latvia, Ilga Šuplinska, Minister for Education and Science, Artūrs Toms Plešs, Minister for Environmental Protection and Regional Development, Jānis Reirs, Minister for Finance, Arvils Ašeradens, Chair of the Saeima Education, Culture and Science Committee, and Gints Kaminskis, President of Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments signed the Memorandum of Cooperation ‘Computer for every child’ on 14 May, in the Riga Castle.

By signing the Memorandum, Parties have committed themselves to working together on:

• making sure all students and teachers have access to appropriate computers for efficient learning by 2025,
• developing sustainable stock management procedures which ensure that pupils and teachers across Latvia have access to devices at all times,
• creating Computer stock network of focal points at every state or local school in Latvia with appropriate legal framework, resource planning and organisational structure that details responsibilities of all stakeholders: Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, local authorities and educational establishments,
• identifying and transferring international experience, practices and innovations applied in computer procurement and/or lease projects for education sector, and thus ensuring cost-efficiency and ease of the maintenance, repair and replacement of computers in the Computer stock,
• implementing batch procurements to guarantee the best price and then distributing, operating and servicing the computers through a decentralised network of focal points,
• identifying and collaborating with private partners to compensate for initial shortages of skilled experts and practical knowledge while making sure all pupils and teachers have unhindered access to efficient ICT infrastructure,
• developing and implementing support framework enabling all municipalities to achieve efficient and meaningful use of computers for learning processes,
• making sure schools have clear strategies for computer-assisted learning and development of digital skills, including training of teachers on how to deliver computer-based learning.

Signatory parties of the Memorandum of Cooperation ‘Computer for every child’ have agreed to entrust the coordination of implementation activities to the Council, which is expected to meet at least four times a year, as necessary, to take stock of the progress in delivery of memorandum activities and produce recommendations for attainment of set goals. According to Memorandum, President has designated his adviser for information and digital policy, Mrs Ieva Ilves, to chair the Council meetings in the first year of Memorandum. Council is composed of representatives from Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, Ministry of Finance, Saeima Education, Culture and Science Committee and Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments.