[kictanet] Laptops for 2014 class 1 entrants

[Edith Adera]

Brian,

It appears the "one laptop per child" program (OLPC) failed as widely touted, so important to learn lessons from that failure.

Edith

From: kictanet [mailto:kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.ca at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Brian Munyao Longwe
Sent: April 10, 2013 9:34 AM
To: Edith Adera
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Laptops for 2014 class 1 entrants

Hi Robert,
Good points. We actually don't need to look very far. The "One Laptop per Child" program has been on this issue for a while now and has a few  models of laptop (including a tablet) that can be offer at a price of +/- $100.
The OLPC project has already delivered over 200,000 laptops in Rwanda and over 500,000 in Uruguay via government driven programs. Considering these are relatively small countries (7m and 3m total populations respectively). The goal of 1 million laptops per year for std1 entrants is not unnattainable.
As for content - this is where the opportunity lies. All of the current education materials exist in soft form with the varioius printing presses, it would not take much effort to process these into eBook format and push them onto a digital library along with related material such as story books, dictionaries, encyclopediae etc.
In addition to the above, there is a huge opportunity to create educational games for all school going ages. Research has shown that children learn much faster when the knowledge is conveyed in a "fun" way.
Kazi kwetu?
Brian

On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 7:56 AM, robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk<mailto:robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk>> wrote:
Hi,

I like the confirmation by the President - sworn and his deputy on the issue of laptops for class 1 students from next year, it is commendable and quite easily achievable but as ICT experts are laptops the ideal items or would low power touchscreen tablets be more practical and appropriate?  However .com that the two principles are I suspect that they might not be up to speed on devices.

Here again for the umpteenth time the opportunity for us to become relevant presents itself, shall we take action or sit back to carry out a forensic analysis when only 80% of the students get the devices?

Regards

PS.  A new dispensation, a new dedication and new vigor


Robert Yawe
KAY System Technologies Ltd
Phoenix House, 6th Floor
P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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