The much publicised MIT project about the100$ laptop received an interesting setback last week. India has decided not to place orders. In an article in the Register (26th July 2006) The Indian Ministry of Education called the whole project â??pedagogically suspectâ??. Nigeria, on the other hand, has ordered and paid for 1 million of the MIT laptops.
This is an interesting challenge to the idea that technology will fix problems. The fundamental philosophy behind the MIT project was that by providing a cheap, robust machine which communicates and shares easily with others there will be gains in learning, literacy and computer skills.
Not everyone agrees with this view. Indian Education Secretary Sudeep Banerjee said:
â??We cannot visualise a situation for decades when we can go beyond the pilot stage. We need classrooms and teachers more urgently than fancy tools.â??
Because the focus is on the tools and its costs the focus of what the problem is and how it should be addressed has been on the technology. With questions of what platform should be used and whether 100$ per laptop is achievable or even if it is desirable.
In the rush to discuss the number of USB ports the questions which have been forgotten is â?? how many teachers can be hired for 100$? Or in the worst case scenario â?? how many teachers will poor countries not be able to hire because they have bought cheap laptops?
(via Question Technology)