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India Rejects One Laptop per Child Program

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the children-make-the-best-lab-rats dept.

ex-geek writes "Seems like Negroponte's One Laptop per Child program has been rejected by the Ministry of Human Resource Development of India. Among the objections are concerns about the effect of extensive laptop use on children's health. Better uses for the monies, which would be required to roll out the OLPC project, are also named. Most insightful however is the observation that not one industrial country has so far implemented a similar program for its children, which casts doubt as to what the pedagogical use for notebooks in class really is."

6 of 374 comments (clear)

  1. Some Good Points by Shadow+Wrought · · Score: 4, Interesting
    The Director makes some good points, but I think there is also a sense that no country wants to be seen as needing the program. I wonder if the program itself could be seen as an affront to the pride of many of the target nations.

    Maybe the pledge to buy two laptops to donate to get one free really isn't such a bad thing after all. Governments have a difficult time tturning away things that are free.

    --
    If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
  2. Re:How about by qortra · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How about not? See, we could give the huge population of India food until the rest of the world runs out of money, and it wouldn't help that much. The children need a way to earn their own food, or else nothing will change in the long run. A starving child who can program a computer or manage a business or teach history won't be starving for long, especially in a place like India that is just starting to be recognized as a potential high-level worker pool.

  3. Re:How about by Clyde · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Actually, it would take very little money to feed the hungry of the world. The money that third world countries pay out ever year in debt maintenance is greater than the cost of feeding the hungry.

    http://www.jubileeusa.org/jubilee.cgi?path=/learn_ more&page=why_drop_the_debt.html

  4. Re:Passing the buck by Senjutsu · · Score: 4, Interesting

    With kids bent over their laptops at school all day, I'd be more concerned about developmental problems in their spines and wrists. And eye problems, depending on screen quality.

    But good job on leaping straight to the "brown people must have primitive superstitions" stereotype.

  5. a little off topic, perhaps... by westlake · · Score: 3, Interesting
    the concern about health effects may seem silly

    I have been wondering how easy it is for a young child to keep the laptop batteries charged. This would seem to be at least an order of magnitude more demanding than a Lifeline radio.

  6. Re:How about by pherthyl · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The side effect of feeding the hungry is that it effectively destroys their entire local food production business. The farmers who previously supported themselves selling food can't compete with free and are suddenly themselves dependant on handouts to survive.

    Do some reading on how the flood of donated clothes from the western world destroyed the textile industry in many areas of Africa. Handouts are a terrible long term solution.