Computers for World’s Poorest Kids
A nonprofit group is offering rugged, inexpensive laptop computers for children in developing countries. The One Laptop per Child Foundation was founded in 2005 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nicholas Negroponte. OLPC’s stated mission is to “provide a means for learning, self-expression, and exploration” to the nearly two billion children in remote areas of the developing world by means of low-cost XO laptops.
Online textbooks, math and science projects, dictionaries, geographies, histories, social studies, health and nutrition courses are presented in local languages and customized for a particular region or group. Children are given the computers at school then take them home. Where they’re in use, the computers boost school attendance and enthusiasm for learning.
OLPC has launched its “Give one, get one” program. Between November 12 and November 26, 2007, you can donate one XO laptop to a child in a developing nation, and also receive one for yourself or a child you know for just $399. Go to www.LaptopGiving.org/
The Taiwan company Quanta Computer is manufacturing the extra-sturdy green and white laptop, designed especially for children. The computer has already been ordered for children in Uruguay and Peru. Meanwhile, though, the cost to produce it have risen from $100 to $188.
At the same time, large tech companies such as Intel are developing their own low-cost computers to compete with OLPC in poor countries. Developing low-cost computers is a good thing, of course, but undercutting the efforts of a nonprofit foundation is not.