The Minister of State for Education, Chief Kenneth Gbagi, on Monday explained that President Goodluck Jonathan approved the donation of laptop computers to girls in selected junior secondary schools in order to ensure gender equality.



Gbagi said this while presenting 360 laptop computers to female students of eight selected secondary schools in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital.



He said the Information and Communication Technology initiative of Jonathan administration also involved training of teachers in all the benefitting schools on the use of modern technologies.



The minister said the programme was being driven by the Millennium Development Goals Debt Relief Fund and that it was an MDG-assisted ICT initiative.



He said the president placed high premium on the attainment of qualitative education by all Nigerians, irrespective of age, gender, geographical and cultural settings.



Gbagi insisted that qualitative education required improvement on teaching, learning and educational administration.



He said Jonathan had directed that ICT should be taken seriously in the country’s educational system owing to its vital role in improving quality in education.



In his address, the MDG-ICT Project Coordinator at the Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Uwem Asomugha, said the choice of the girl-child as the initial beneficiary of the programme was to emphasise the importance of women in nation building.



He said girls were integral to poverty reduction, sustenance of development and good governance.



The benefiting students were drawn from secondary schools in the three senatorial districts in the state, consisting of the Federal Government College, Immiringi; the Government Secondary School, Okpoama; the Community Girls Secondary School, Odi; the St. Jude Girls Secondary School, Amarata and the Community Girls Secondary School, Nembe.



Girls from the Government Secondary School, Otuoke; the River Nun Grammar School, Agbere, and the Agudama Comprehensive High School, Agudama, also benefitted from the programme.

which type of country is this? Can't ICT centers be built in those schools instead of giving the laptops to individuals? What if those poor girls sell the laptops and use the money to support their parents?questions and  more questions. I'm tired honestly I am.

'Gender equality' as if the male children are swimming in laptops.
As the OP said, invest in ICT centers open to ALL the students instead of handing over laptops to select few students.