At an important internal ICT event last week, the ICT minister of Mauritius, Tassarajen Pillay Chedumbrum announced the Mauritius government’s intention of further promoting the country's computer literacy as well as enhancing the e-governance and e-services. He noted that the government envisages making access to the Internet a basic citizen's right.

In a statement, Chedumbrum said that Mauritius is taking further steps to promote computer literacy among citizens with special attention for “vulnerable” groups and elderly people.

Since 2006, Mauritius government has been offering free broadband Internet to primary and secondary schools. The government has also been providing the public with Internet access in the post office under the Public Internet Access Point (News - Alert) project.

In another initiative, the government targets to adopt avOne Laptop Per Child program and also plans to set up 150 computer clubs in all community centers.

In his statement, the ICT minister further expressed his hopes that decentralization of new cyber parks with intelligent buildings across the island would bring ICT development closer to the public, in particular those at the grassroots level.

The minister emphasized on the importance of ensuring the online security through the establishment of the independent Mauritius Computer Emergency Response Team, the introduction by the Regulator of a centralized online content filtering system and the Public Key Infrastructure system. All these, according to the minister, would allow the use of digital signatures for safe and secure electronic transactions.