Uruguay - One Laptop Per Child

Education Initiative Provides Laptops for Students - First in World

Share Article |

Dec 3, 2009 Melanie Zoltan

In 2007 the Uruguay government announced "one laptop per child" as an initiative. In 2009 the laptops for students were in, the first country in the world to do so.

In October 2007 the Uruguay government placed its first order for 100,000 laptops from the One Laptop Per Child initiative. The goal, to provide laptops for students in Uruguay and to provide one laptop for every single pupil, was a bold initiative for the South American country. Uruguay, along with the South pacific island nation of Nuie, completed the first computer initiative giving every single schoolchild in the country a laptop computer in late 2009.

One Laptop Per Child

The "One Laptop Per Child" initiative started at the Technology Media Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Nicholas Negroponte spearheaded the effort to create a $100 laptop. The One Laptop Per Child initiative at Laptop.org launched a promotional campaign in 2007, offering "give one get one," an offer to donors to receive one and donate one to students in countries enrolled in the One Laptop Per Child program.

While the $100 product has never been achieved, the laptops for students cost less than $200 and Uruguay has ordered 400,000 since 2007, completing the goal to distribute one laptop per child across the country.

Laptops for Students

The initiative in Uruguay, called "Plan Ceibal" ("Education Connect" in English), provides laptops to all students but also gives more than 18,000 computers to teachers across Uruguay. The One Laptop Per Child computers, called the XO, are designed for rugged use, have wireless access and run on Linux platforms.

According to BBC News, more than 70% of the children who receive the laptops do not have computers at home. Uruguay boasts a 98% traditional literacy rate, and the Uruguay laptop initiative is an effort to increase computer and Internet literacy as well.

Education Goals in Uruguay

Tabaré Vázquez, president of Uruguay, has made the CEIBAL/Education Connect program a cornerstone of his administration, and international attention to the program has pushed the Uruguayan president into the spotlight. As Vázquez noted in a Jan. 30, 2009 article for Americas Quarterly, "...CEIBAL’s longer-term objective is to promote social justice by promoting equal access to information and communication tools for all our people."

The laptops Uruguay ordered have sparked interest in other South American countries as well. Peru has expressed a commitment to invest in the One Laptop Per Child program. Uruguay laptops cost approximately 5 percent of the country's education budget, and ongoing maintenance will cost approximately $21 per year per computer.

References:

Zucker, Andrew A. and Daniel Light. Laptops Programs for Students. Science 2 January 2009: Vol. 323. no. 5910, pp. 82 - 85.

Digital Democracy, Americas Quarterly

Laptop For Every Pupil in Uruguay, BBC News

Share Article |
The copyright of the article Uruguay - One Laptop Per Child in South American Affairs is owned by Melanie Zoltan. Permission to republish Uruguay - One Laptop Per Child in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
One Laptop Per Child, jsbarrie One Laptop Per Child
   
What do you think about this article?
NOTE: Because you are not a Suite101 member, your comment will be moderated before it is viewable.
post your comment
What is 2+10?
;