Through a statement, the international entity specified that in its schedule this batch would be delivered from the last week of March.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) confirmed on Tuesday, in a statement, that it has supported the procurement of “a batch of 46,422 computers, worth US $ 13,525,049. 70, including shipping and insurance costs, funded by the Government of El Salvador. “
These computers are being delivered to students of the public education network since last Monday, after a press conference attended by the President of the Republic, Nayib Bukele; the Minister of Education, Carla Hanania de Varela; and the Secretary of Innovation, Vladimir Handal.
In his speech at the handover ceremony to students, President Bukele said on Monday that the government had invested $ 450 million in the purchase of this technological equipment, although in the past Minister Hanania de Varela had mentioned that the computers were going to arrive in the country by donation from the United Nations.
READ MORE: Computer delivery begins with second and third year high school students in the public sector
This Tuesday, the minister clarified her previous words and explained, via Twitter, that “when I say that we have not bought it is because we have done it through the UN, with GOES funds. Why have we done so? For transparency and for all the additional benefits that this brings us. “
The official data provided by the Government mention that there will be 1.2 million computers, which will be distributed among a similar number of students nationwide, including those around 50 thousand people who make up the teaching staff of the public network. .
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The UNDP statement states that this batch of 46,422 computers was betrayed “in a staggered manner from the last week of March 2021”, and not just the week before the elections, where the Government can remove a political cut to these deliveries in the face of the population.
The UN body adds that “the procurement process was conducted in accordance with UNDP procurement policies and procedures, and ensuring the principles: good value for money; impartiality, competition effectiveness, integrity and transparency “.
As announced by the Minister of Education, the first students to receive the computers will be those in the second and third year of high school. Secretary Handal also mentioned that in the early childhood levels at fourth grade they will be given a tablet, and from fourth grade through high school a computer.
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