“Laptop for students” is a program implemented by the Law and Justice government, under which a total of PLN 400,000 was to be provided to fourth-grade students of primary schools. portable computers. In 2023 alone, the costs of the government program were to exceed over PLN 1 billion.
The program of providing laptops to fourth-grade students will remain with students permanently thanks to the act prepared by Law and Justice MPs in consultation with the Ministry of Digitization. We must secure subsequent years so that modern equipment is a permanent element of the Polish education system
– explained in August 2023 the then Minister of Digitization, Janusz Cieszyński.
However, at the beginning of February, Krzysztof Gawkowski, the new head of the Ministry of Digital Affairs, announced that the “Laptop for students” program had been suspended. – The tender was implemented from October 2022. In mid-August, contractors were selected, but in the meantime there were matters that we should discuss – Gawkowski explained at the conference held on February 8.
Everything indicates that criminal regulations were violated during the tender and corruption may have occurred. Therefore, a confidential report will be submitted to the prosecutor’s office regarding the possibility of committing a crime
– said the deputy prime minister. At the same time, he noted that the government is now looking for ways to continue the program, but it must first be “healed”. He added that Finance Minister Andrzej Domański supports such programs, but “they must be done wisely and in accordance with the law.”
10,000 laptops are in the NASK warehouse
Now it turns out that the government has a problem with laptops that were already distributed to students, but were later returned by them – e.g. due to transfer to another school. According to the Deputy Minister of Digitization, Dariusz Standerski, 10,000 such devices were returned to the Scientific and Academic Computer Network (NASK) warehouse, but actually nothing can be done with them.
We enter the warehouse and see shelves with new computers, still in packaging. School principals write to me and say they have ten laptops left to return and can they keep them? They explain that they are missing five laptops in the IT room, because the ones that exist are fifteen years old and are of no use. We can’t say: “Okay, leave them alone.” No, because according to the law they have to return. It’s a waste
– explains Dariusz Standerski.
by the Sejm on July 7, 2023. As Standerski explains, it currently does not allow computers that have been returned to NASK to be transferred to students. – There’s nothing we can do with them at this point – he explains. At the same time, he announced that the Ministry of Digitization is planning changes to the act, which “was written on the knees by the previous government, without preparation, without consultations, without experts.”
“Laptop for a student” in the prosecutor’s office. There is a notice
Last week, the head of the Ministry of Digital Affairs, Krzysztof Gawkowski, submitted a notification to the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw about the possibility of committing a crime. It mentioned a tender for the purchase of equipment under the “Laptop for a student” program. “The materials that formed the basis for submitting the notification constitute classified information,” the Ministry of Digitization briefly explained.
Barbara Nowacka, Minister of Education, also expressed reservations, stating during a conference with Krzysztof Gawkowski that the program introduced by the previous government “was controversial from the very beginning.”
The PiS government behaved exceptionally disgustingly during the election campaign. They have exploited children and their need to access technology for their exclusive purposes. They treated laptops like election sausages. They handed them out without preparing a real strategy. Laptops were unprotected against misuse, exposing children to cyber threats
– Nowacka said at the beginning of February.
Source: Gazeta
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