Positivo BGH, the Latin American company has started producing laptops locally with various specifications to meet the needs of students.

This follows concerns by students who received the laptops on loan that computers are not aligned to their courses.

“These laptops cannot support any of the software our school uses. Heavy operating systems have to be on CD yet the machines have no space for it,” complained a second year student of engineering at the University of Rwanda’s College of Science and Technology.

The laptops were recently distributed to varsity students under the laptop purchase programme in which government partners with Positivo BGH, the made-in-Rwanda IT devices manufacturer.

READ: Locally assembled laptops to ease shortage in Rwanda schools

Although hailed for ample capacity for a mid-level user, the 320GB storage capacity; 2GB RAM and 2.16GHZ processor laptops were not welcomed by students in a variety of disciplines that require high performing processing capacity devices.

The programme co-ordinators initially rejected the students’ concerns as unfounded; but the Ministry for Youth and ICT later confirmed their validity.

Minister Jean Philbert Nsengimana said the issues were noted and the manufacturer would soon produce laptops that would match the specifications required in various academic disciplines and those needed by different categories of people in the market.

“We would want all of those having issues to raise their concerns so that we can know how many are in this category for us to place the order,” Mr Nsengimana said, adding that the ministry would review the programme every six months.

This implies that students will bear a cost additional to the current Rwf300,000 paid per laptop in monthly installments extending to one and a half years.

Juan Ignacio Ponelli, Positivo BGH African president seem s to agree laptops distributed in Viziyo programme have specifications that do not meet some students’ needs.

The Latin American company has produced more than 100,000 units since its establishment in Rwanda, its first plant in Africa.

“It doesn’t mean we cannot give the laptops they need. No, we can! We have a big portfolio and we can change the specifications,” he said.

A student currently pays more than Rwf600, 000 as tuition fees per academic year in most public universities, and Rwf25 000 monthly living stipend for those from the poorest families, foots additional Rwf17 288 every month for the laptop.

The laptop purchase programme is part of the recently-launched initiative dubbed Viziyo, which also features banks, telecom and digital device dealer companies, aimed at accelerating the penetration of smart and Internet-enabled devices.

The sustainability of the programme could depend mainly on loans from financial institutions to targeted beneficiaries.

Positivo says it is in conversation with banks and stakeholders are encouraging the whole ecosystem to come on board to make it success.

Rwanda Today could not get exact details of the uptake status, but students on state-funded higher education bursary and teachers, through their Savings and Credit Co-operative, have been the first to be approached.