(Ecofin Agency) - On July 5, the President of the Republic of Mali Ibrahim Boubacar Keita granted a first batch of 13,000 digital tablets to University students. This was during a ceremony organized by the Universal Access Fund Management Agency (AGEFAU).

The move is part of the “Doniya, one student, one tablet” project announced by the president in June 2016 at the summit of Francophone ministers of higher education on the financing of digital tablet, held in Bamako.

The tablets were manufactured by YATTCO Sarl for CFA3,000,835,650. The contract, awarded in January 2018, was to be completed within 45 days, thus by mid-February 2018 at the latest.

Let’s recall that the DONIYA project aligns with government’s national digital development strategy called “digital plan 2020”. This plan aims to improve students’ access to knowledge, via ICT, providing them with ways to get the best possible training.