Frances Ovia-George
28 November 2007
Lagos — The much tauted $100 laptop project is working to boost education for children in the developing world.
The rugged, energy efficient laptops have been designed to be used in remote and environmentally challenging areas.
They are currently being tested around the world, including at the LEA primary school, Galadima, on the outskirts of Abuja, Nigeria.
Speaking at the presentation of the laptops to the students Mrs. Juliana Okonkwo, head teacher of the school said the school is a very lucky in the sense that it is one of the beneficiaries of the 100 laptop.
We have been given a total of ten laptops in our school, and we have an access to internet whereby we can browse.
According to her, when the students encounter any difficulty in the course of study, they can easily go to internet to get the meaning and this makes work easier for every pupil.
One Laptop per Child (OLPC), the group behind the project, has disclosed that children in developing countries would begin receiving machines this month.
OLPC was started in 2002 by Nicholas Negroponte, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
It aims to put thousands of low-cost laptops, known as the XO, in the hands of children around the world though according to Negroponte, the organisation had reached the critical stage despite all the naysayer .
The machines are planned to cost $100 and have been especially designed for use in remote and harsh environments where there is little access to electricity or the internet
Computer manufacturer Quanta has started building the low-cost laptops at a factory in Changshu, China.
Last month, OLPC received its first official order for 100,000 machines from the government of Uruguay.
Since Professor Negroponte first put forward the idea of distributing low-cost laptop to children in developing countries in 2002, the plan has been both praised and mocked
Intel chairman Craig Barret described the XO laptop, as the machine is known, as a "$100 gadget" whilst Microsoft founder Bill Gates questioned its lack of hard drive and "tiny screen".
Other critics have questioned the need for the laptops in countries which, they said, had more pressing needs such as sanitation and health care.
But Professor Negroponte has always maintained that the project is about education not technology.
However, the green and white XO machines pack a number of innovations which make them suitable for use in remote and environmentally hostile areas.
The machine has no moving parts and can be easily maintained. It has a sunlight-readable display that allows children to use it outside and, importantly for areas with little access to electricity, it is ultra low power and can be charged by a variety of devices including solar panels.
Although OLPC eventually plan to sell the machines for $100 or less, the current price is $188 (£93).
Initially OLPC has said that it required three million orders of the XO to make production viable.
Governments were originally offered the machines in lots of 250,000. So far, however, the organisation's only confirmed order is from Uruguay. The South American country has ordered 100,000 of the machines with an option to purchase a further 300,000. Other governments have expressed interest in the machines.
For example, the government of Mongolia has announced that it plans to launch a pilot project providing 20,000 laptops, to children aged six to 12.
OLPC has also allowed a limited number of the machines to be bought by people in North America through its Give 1 Get 1 programme (G1G1), which will allow members of the public to buy a machine for themselves as well as one for a child in a developing country.
The programme offered laptops between the 12 and 26 November this year. OLPC said that the start of production means that people participating in the scheme will receive their XO by December this year.
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