on OLPC
Mahendra Verma
Related News
* $100 Laptop to Get Windows XP
Techtree.com - 3 hours ago
* One Windows Per Child
Sydney Morning Herald - 12 hours ago
* One Laptop Per Child Project Hit With More Delays
Wired News - Oct 26, 2007
Full coverage »
Cheap laptop program still eyes India
2 days ago
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - The so-called US$100 laptops for children may
make it to India after all.
Last year,India rebuffed One Laptop Per Child, the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology spinoff that created rugged little computers
for kids in the developing world.
India's education minister was quoted calling the project
"pedagogically suspect," apparently because it demands children be
allowed to take the laptops home to maximize exploration.
Being shut out of the world's second-most populous country seemed a
defeat for One Laptop Per Child, which has had a tougher sell than it
expected. Mass production of its roughly $190 laptops is expected to
begin soon, but with fewer than the several million computers
originally envisioned.
Even after hearing the minister's comments, One Laptop Per Child kept
talking to Indian officials, companies and non-governmental agencies.
And a pilot test began recently in which 22 children in first through
fourth grades in a rural, one-room school in the Indian state of
Maharashtra are using the computers.
Carla Gomez-Monroy, the education consultant who launched the test,
said One Laptop Per Child has learned that working with local partners
will be crucial in India, where dozens of languages are spoken.
It also helps that One Laptop Per Child has dropped its initial goal
of getting each participating government to buy at least one million
computers. Now, far smaller orders and donations are being encouraged.
"The model has evolved," Gomez-Monroy said. And in India's case, she
said, it could mean distribution begins as soon as June.
-Brian Bergstein, AP Technology Writer
Debamitro Chakraborti
year-and-a-half ago and at that time I was quite excited by the
prospect of low-cost computing which could really reach the masses.
Today, after reading this report, I feel differently.
I seriously started thinking: how can using a laptop as the primary
learning tool help children of 'developing' nations? or, for that
matter, any nation? I went through the entire OLPC site just today,
and I also googled out all I could find about the progress of OLPC
Don't get me wrong -- I am not doubting the power of the computer as a
tool for learning. But I seriously doubt the aims cited by the
founders of OLPC -- 'learning learning' (i.e., learning how to learn).
A laptop/computer cannot help in education in general, can it? Can we
really equate the learning from a computer with education? A computer
is a machine that is becoming increasingly easy to command; also, most
of the gadgetary interfaces are becoming computer-like. So a child who
is familiar with computers has an extra edge in this 'modern' urban
world full of gadgets -- that is ALL the core learning a computer can
give. By projecting this advantage as education, aren't we going
towards a dangerous direction?
Let us ask ourselves a simple question -- what makes us conclude that
the children of 'developing' nations are 'under-educated'? They are
not exposed to the development of the Western world -- does this mean
they have no education? By terming the common knowledge of the
Westernised world as THE sought-after form of education, are we not
wiping out the diversity of educational systems practised within
different communities the world over? If we wipe out the diversity of
learning on our planet, do we gain anything?
I have more doubts as well. Even if we assume we need to help
'backward' communities educate themselves, can a computer be the
primary tool? The typically non-urban communities who we call
'backward' have a wealth of education which the urban world doesn't
have -- an education that helped them live sustainably and in harmony
with nature for thouands of years. For example, tribal societies have
a more liberal outlook towards life and total gender equity -- the
urban world is yet to achieve this even after so much 'develpment' and
'education'. Is not our aim to 'educate' using computers a ploy to
discard the millenia-old knowledge systems of old communities and
bring them into the urban world?
Last of all, is this economically sustainable, specially when the cost
is $100 = Rs 40,000 per laptop? Any government can do much more for
letting its people live happily and prosperously with such an amount.
Also, has anyone thought of the environmental dangers? The dangers of
e-waste are rising alarmingly -- now if we think of multiplying that
many times without having proper waste management, we wreak havoc on
the eco-system. I really fail to understand how we can 'educate'
anyone in this way.
I think our efforts should be geared more towards conserving our
eco-system -- that is where we all are getting more and more
uneducated day by day. That is also what people were more educated
about in the past, though they might not have been entirely aware of
that.
Please do get back with your inputs. I am really concerned about this matter.
Regards,
Debamitro