[DDN] Questions about the Hundred Dollar Laptop / One Laptop Per Child / X0-1 Project

[Saira Zameer]

Here's an interesting news piece:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6675833.stm


On 5/14/07, John Hibbs <skipper at bfranklin.edu> wrote:
>
> It would seem that ProjectEducate could educate us all with the
> outcome of this (which seems in contradiction to the post below?)
>
> <http://www.project-educate.org/test/?q=blog/1>
> >ProjectEducate is the recipient of 400 computers from the Montgomery
> >County Public School District through Teachers Without Borders.
>
>
> What happened to the 400 computers? What were the benchmarks for goal
> achievement? Were they achieved?
> Me? I like what my friend Tom Abeles had to say, though he failed to
> mention a favorite subject of mine -- use of conventional radio in
> the classroom. It seems to me that the combination of low cost
> broadcasting equipment, cybercafe's, telecenters, and community
> involvement by way of community radio -- that resources committed
> there would yield more than $100. laptops.
> John Hibbs
> http://www.bfranklin.edu/johnhibbs
>
> At 10:00 AM -0400 5/14/07, ProjectEDUCATE wrote:
> >Arthur,
> >
> >I run a tiny non-profit www.project-educate.org and  having been born
> >and raised in Africa, I could not agree with you more Arthur. I find
> >it hard to believe that people are pushing for this. In Zambia where
> >I come from, the average family survives on less than a dollar a day.
> >Now I know we hear this everyday and tend to deal with it in abstract
> >but what this means is on a daily basis families have to make the
> >decision whether to buy food or medication for one, whether to send a
> >child to school or provide basic necessities this is the harsh
> >reality of life not just in Zambia but the entire African continent.
> >The idea that families or governments will have the resources to
> >invest in this is beyond me. The one way I see this happening is if
> >African governments are bullied into agreements that will force them
> >to spend resources on this for the benefit of venture capitalists.
> >Another thing, even if we were to get this equipment into the hands
> >of our children, I am yet to hear of training for educators. Which is
> >critical to the successful implementation of any project. It is
> >almost as if it is being taken for granted that the technical skill
> >on the continent is as advanced as it is in the Western world.
> >Consider this, not too long ago we sent computers to Zambia and out
> >of 6 schools with about 200 teachers not a single one of them had
> >ever used a computer.(mind you this was in an urban area) Point being
> >made is before we can talk of ICT's in education or whatever, serious
> >thought and resources must be poured into training the educators. (I
> >get a kick out of envisioning African children running around with
> >these things) Then there is the issue of infrastructure, where will
> >these things be housed? Are children taking them home or leaving them
> >at school? If so, are these people willing to invest in building and/
> >strengthening infrastructure?(most unlikely from my experience)
> >
> >Mbao.
> >
> >On May 11, 2007, at 11:18 PM, arthur richards wrote:
> >
> >>  On the surface it the so-called OLPC has been dressed as beneficial
> >>  to third world children and families, but have the proponents of
> >>  the initiative spared a thought for the following:
> >>
> >>    a) that the children being targeted for the initiative are mostly
> >>  going to be unable to pay school fees and hence do not and cannot
> >>  gain education. why would a sensible family spend $100 for a laptop
> >>  instead of using the funds to pay school fees and educate the child?
> >>    b) Suppose 200 million african children could be provided with
> >>  these laptops. Who coughs up this $20 billion for the laptops? The
> >>  african continent cannot sustain $20 billion being etracted out of
> >>  the continent since none of the laptops are built in the continent
> >>  to provide employment. Indeed this amount represents hard earned
> >>  foreign currency which is being sucked out of the continent. The
> >>  economic disadvantages of buying the laptops makes them grossly
> >>  unsuitable for a poor continent like africa.
> >  >   c) Who is going to be responsible for maintaining the laptops?
> >>  How much will the bill for spare parts or replacements amount to?
> >>
> >>    In my view from the African perspective, what the african child
> >>  needs first is ability to be educated normally like every other
> >>  child in the West. They need those who can pay their school fees
> >>  and $100 will support this for more than a couple of years.
> >>
> >>    I think the OLPC is a business strategy and a new front for
> >>  globalisation - aimed at increasing the sale of computers,
> >>  software, network devices and foreign content to third world
> >>  countries and at the same time impoverishing them beyond where they
> >>  are now.
> >>
> >>    How will the proponents of the OLPC initiative address these issues?
> >>
> >>    Arthur
> >>
> >>  Deborah Elizabeth Finn <deborah_elizabeth_finn at post.harvard.edu>
> >>  wrote:
> >>    Dear Digital Divide Network Colleagues,
> >>
> >>  The Ethos Roundtable (of which I am a co-convener) is hosting a
> >>  presentation on the One Laptop Per Child project on May 15th.
> >>
> >>  More details can be found here:
> >>
> >  > "One Laptop Per Child: How is this going to work?"
> >>
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