Laptops for students are hanging by a thread because there is no money. Gawkowski: They were issued on credit

Problems related to continuing the laptop for students program have been discussed for several weeks now. Back in January, the media unofficially reported that the program was hanging by a thread because no funds had been secured to purchase computers for students from subsequent years.

There is desire, but there is no money. PiS did not leave a penny for this purpose

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digitization Krzysztof Gawkowski admitted in an interview on Monday that the future of the program is in fact very uncertain because there is no money for it. As the politician mentioned, not only was no money received from the European Union for the program because the EU expenditure in 2023 was questioned, but also no funds were secured for it in the budget.

The minister also accused Mateusz Morawiecki’s government of mistakes in running and financing the program last year. The politician noted that “there was no money, it was spent on credit, it is not known what happened to it or how it was used.” He also added that the previous authorities left a huge mess in financing the project. Gawkowski further admitted that the Ministry of Digitization is in “inter-ministerial dialogue” with the Ministry of Education on the future of the project, but for now – as can be concluded from his statement – this future is very uncertain.

I have the desire, but if there is no money and there are problems with how to settle it, today – I can say – there are more question marks than space to do it. I would like to do this, but we are not able to model this program in such a way that the fourth grader, his parent and teacher would be satisfied with this project

– Krzysztof Gawkowski explained on air.

As we wrote two days ago, last year’s laptops for students were to be financed from European Union funds. There are even stickers with the logo of the National Reconstruction Plan on their housings. However, the PiS government did not receive funds from the EU to purchase computers, and – as reported by TVN24 – it did not even negotiate funds with the EC for this purpose. Despite the above-mentioned stickers on the casings, the laptops were not financed from the KPO, but from the secured funds of the Polish Development Fund on a pre-financing basis. Ultimately – as the previous government assumed – the EU would pay for the laptops, but there is a big problem with this. Due to wrong decisions, laptops may not be eligible for financing from the KPO, at least until the conditions of the program change (we wrote more about this in the text below).