Laptop plan stalls through bad credit

The original plan was that teachers would buy the computers from approved suppliers on credit and then the government would reimburse them for a part of the cost.

The subsidy amounts to R130 a month for the next five years and was aimed at helping teachers purchase packages that include software, hardware and an internet connection. The total cost of such a package was estimated at between R250 and R390 a month.

The New Age says that because of the credit problems faced by teachers, the National Treasury and the Department of Basic Education are in talks to resolve the problem by buying laptop computers on behalf of teachers.

Meanwhile Times Live quotes Dhaya Govender, general secretary of the Education Labour Relations Council as saying that between 35% and 40% of the 400 000 teachers in South Africa did not qualify for credit to buy a laptop from an accredited supplier.

Education spokesman Granville Whittle says that one way to overcome the problem would be for the government to guarantee suppliers that there is a viable way for them to collect the money from teachers.

• Read the report in The New Age.
  
• Read the Times Live article.