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A
NY COUNTRY
’
S MOST
precious resource is its children. Any
solution to major problems like poverty, warfare or the
environment must include education as a component. All
forms of learning are best advanced when the emphasis is upon
individual and peer-to-peer learning. It is therefore time to revisit
schools to give children new tools to learn in new ways.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the One
Laptop per Child (OLPC) non-profit association propose a global
programme to equip as many as a billion students and their teach-
ers with individual, ultra-low-cost, full-feature connected laptop
computers that will be convertible to sunlight readable e-books
at the flick of a switch. They will be an appropriate size for chil-
dren and adolescents, will run Linux and other open-source
software, and will be so energy efficient that hand-cranking alone
could generate sufficient power to operate them.
The machines will incorporate design and engineering advances
developed at MIT’s Media Lab, plus innovations in manufactur-
ing and distribution to bring cost, and prices, down to about
USD100 apiece. They will be issued to schoolchildren by their
national governments via diffused distribution, that is, one laptop
per child. None will be available through regular retail or commer-
cial channels, although MIT and OLPC will license or give away
the IP necessary to bring similar products to market.
In the programme’s pilot phase, between five and 15 million
machines would be distributed on a country-by-country basis
into culturally diverse regions with a focus, where possible, on
rural and remote areas. An essential feature of the pilot
programme would be training, logistics and an administrative
initiative based in the host country. Here, in partnership with
local educational organizations or other groups to be determined,
MIT would help create a centre to implement a carefully designed,
exponential process to impart the necessary technological and
pedagogical skills to classroom teachers over a period of six
months or less.
One Laptop per Child
Nicholas Negroponte and Seymour Papert
Photo: Dimitri Negroponte
Elaine & Nicholas Negroponte School in Reaksmy, Cambodia, January 2002. Laptops are Panasonic Toughbooks with WiFi. Access point connected to
Shinawatra satellite provided courtesy of Thaicom (dish in the background).Photo by Dimitri Negroponte