India Rejects $100 One Laptop Per Child Project
I personally did not expect every region of the world to think the OLPC project was a golden opportunity to bring computer technology and communication into areas that can’t afford them, but I never expected a country to outright reject the platform as India has done.
The Indian Ministry of Education has been quoted as saying that the laptop was “paedagogically suspect” and that “We cannot visualise a situation for decades when we can go beyone the pilot stage. We need classrooms and teachers more urgently than fancy tools.”
He also goes on to say: “We do not think that the idea of Prof Negroponte is mature enough to be taken seriously at this stage and no major country is presently following this. Even inside America, there is not much enthusiasm about this.”
With Nigeria ordering one million of the OLPC laptops, I think they might get a little annoyed both by not being considered “major” and because if no one comes in and buys up enough to make sure the project continues forward they might have to wait for another cheap technology solution. As it stands now, another 4 to 9 million units have to be ordered before they will be put into production.
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