This document proposes providing every child in underprivileged areas with a laptop to transform education. It discusses the current poor state of public education due to lack of infrastructure, technology, and quality content. A laptop for every child could address these barriers at low cost by providing educational content, connectivity, and a platform for innovative teaching methods. The proposal suggests deploying 100,000 laptops in a state as a pilot, with OLPC providing the laptops, ebooks, training, and maintenance support for one year at a cost of about Rs. 10 per child per day. The goal is to bridge the digital divide and learning quality gap through a low-cost, scalable solution.

1. Transforming Our Children’s Future
A Laptop for Every Child
Satish Jha, satish@olpcindia.net
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2. Agenda
› State of Education for the Underprivileged children
› Target Segment of Children
› The Current Story
› Barriers
› The Most cost effective way and Why?
› Our Proposal
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3. An Approach to Educating the Underprivileged
2. Review affordability and
1. Review Current State 3. Review future vision 4. Define the Process
cost
Assess current system : Review affordability and Create Learning
Make it Affordable and
Government cost of education curriculum in each model
Measureable
Schools school
• Modernization of education is
happening in a linear way as follows
• Limited infrastructure • Govt spends Rs 5400 annually • Connect each school with wireless • Get a computer for a school
to educate a child barely enough to its cheap! • A computer lab for the school
• Limited experience and prepare a child for manual • Provide each school with a • Followed by computer per class
knowhow to do better work of questionable quality laptop for each child in the 1st
grade The above approach is dated and
• Caught in a cycle of limited • Each of these children can do much does not make the best use of
improvement or no change better and proof abounds. Traditional • Course software to be preloaded on opportunities that technologies offer
ways to improve education costs the computers in local language us
• Not at par with the privileged a lot and delivers little.
world • Focus on technology and science • Time to discard the desktop that
• We didn’t see the cell phone • was designed for the US
• India has billions of minds, not revolution coming to India, so why • Create competition among each • hogs too much energy
providing them with an are we behind in thinking about school to compete for the prize • mostly does not work in villages
education is a terrible waste the next revolution money • is designed for office work and
• NOT for Learning
• So far it has not been possible • Just reallocate existing budget and • Prize money for each village/district
to change the paradigm get creative to be funded by Central Govt • Time to adopt the laptop that is
• Designed for villages
• In Year 2 take the competition • Designed for school education
Statewide. • Makes “Learning” fun
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4. The Current Story
Current Situation of Public Education
1.Infrastructure
a. Need for immediate upgrade of basic infrastructure to accommodate rapidly growing population
b. To bring modern amenities in teaching infrastructure
c. Connect the students to the modern world at the same level as a well-resourced school
d. Bring Teaching infrastructure at par with schools with branding and national image
e. Including parents in the learning eco-system
2.Technology
a. Innovative teaching methods
b. Graphical and Digital Classrooms.
c. Seamlessly connected computers and scientific labs
3.Content
a. International Level content through
a. Digital Books
b. Internet
c. Teacher’s guidance material
d. Interactive Platforms, multimedia platforms and audio visual content
The students at schools in nationally branded schools have access to majority of such platforms and
the government run schools lack most of the basic infrastructure
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5. Barriers
The following Barriers can be attributed to a quick paced growth of education
1. Infrastructure
a. The world class infrastructure is costly and takes time to implement
b. Teaching infrastructure is exhaustive and manpower expansion, training and other
arrangements have their limitations
c. Technology for Seamless ICT is limited and difficult to implement at school level
d. Maintenance and Equitable distribution to each student in is a logistical challenge
2. Teaching
a. Currently, teaching is highly dependent on Teachers
b. Manual intervention leads to a heavy dependence on manpower and not on process based
learning
3. Content
a. Creating content which is world class and constantly upgrading it is very difficult in a
system where books and curriculum take years to design
b. Content is a state subject which has to be implemented in a framework of policy
All the above factors lead to a situation where we need:
• An alternative route to address the challenges.
• Cost effective and
• Seamless
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6. The OLPC Way
Our Approach to the current situation is simple and cost effective.
Its about taking the education to the students and not bringing them to education.
Our Approach:
1. Infrastructure
a. The XO laptops provide an alternative to the infrastructure constraint.
a. Provide all the teaching platforms including books and computer labs on one single laptop
b. Its rugged, dust proof and water proof
a. It takes care of difficult terrains
c. Its small storage and individual carriage etc helps individuals access the required infrastructure
a. Help bring equitable distribution
d. The infrastructure is easily expandable and can be taken to each student in a matter of months
2. Intervention
a. It reduces the manual intervention in teaching by complementing the role of a teacher through
the philosophy of learning “learning”
b. Teaching is more process based where teacher and student work at the same platform as they
use same infrastructure of XO Laptops
3. Content
a. Digital content is cost effective to upgrade. Through connectivity, the children have access to
seamless content which is priceless
b. The content is international in nature. The access to information allows them to be at the same
level of learning as a child in a developed country.
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7. OLPC is Transformational
• OLPC is NOT just a Laptop
– It’s the “Nano” or the “Cell Phone” of Education
– “Nano” because its small, compact, designed for children
– “Cell Phone” because its designed to transform learning, help them leapfrog
several generations at a stroke
• It can take a child from calling “Q” as “kway” to “Q” in 3 minutes
– It can take a child from “1” to “1111111 ....” in a week rather than from “1 to 100”
in a year
• It can help a child learn in months what traditional “Education” takes 5 years to teach
– It can help a child “Learn Learning” as distinct from “Rote Learning” from the word
go..
• It can do so without changing the infrastructure or the teachers
– It can help teachers learn and get excited about “Learning”, teaching and
education again
– It invariably brings down absenteeism by students to zero
– It invariably gets teachers excited to teach what they know
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8. It still works as One Laptop per Child
• We are moving from fixed content to seamless content
• The infrastructure is child friendly, education friendly and can reach out even to the
lowest strata of society
• The current standard of education and learning in developed countries allows everyone
to be connected, share information and learn together. The infrastructure has been built
over a period of time. The pedagogy and technology has spread out to every home and
school through an advanced infrastructure.
• Every year the digital divide increases among the children with access to such
infrastructure and those without leading to a cycle of illiteracy, school drop outs and
poverty.
• The intervention of technology infrastructure has also led to a situation where the
innovation and creativity level of Have’s is significantly higher than Have-Not’s
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9. The Cost Effectiveness
The XO is not just as a tool but as a platform. It allows the child to use it as a whole
infrastructure. This means that the need for investment towards a full fledged
infrastructure is substantially reduced. A relative comparison:
Head XO Standard Infrastructure i.e.
the competition
Acquisition Cost Per Child INR 14999, No other Costs Significantly Higher costs
through Building Costs,
Software and maintenance Cost
Running Cost Per Child Zero Cost as the content is open Approximately 20% costs per
source and its zero maintenance year on maintenance
Content Zero Cost Content Development is high
cost and upgrade is chargeable
Connectivity Unlimited Limited
Approximate Cost Rs 8-10 Per Day per Child More than 100 Rs Per Day Per
Child
Quality World Class Seamless Quality Limited, Non Standard Quality
Reach Unlimited Limited
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10. A stark comparison: A Tale of Two Schools
While the rural dilapidated schools have a reason to be behind, the buildings can hardly become a medium
of learning. They are a supportive infrastructure.
The premise of OLPC is that the influence of the physical infrastructure has to be reduced to minimum
levels so that irrespective of geographic or socio economic status of the area, children get similar learning
opportunities.
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11. A rural – urban classroom comparison
•The main difference is in the
teacher’s involvement with the
students.
•OLPC intervenes in such a manner
that the students learn “learning”.
•It reduces their dependency on the
teachers for basic learning.
•Teachers become guide and even
children in a rural classroom learn
at the same level as in an urban
school
The differences in learning
material i.e. quality and
availability of books is mitigated
as the laptops are connected and
have free digital content.
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12. Teachers
The paucity and involvement of quality teachers is also handled by the idea of Teachers and
Students using the same platform.
They get involved in such a manner that the role of teacher remains as a guide.
Also, they use the same platform to teach upgrading both the teacher and students to the next
level of teaching and learning
The laptop has everything that a child needs to learn. Right from languages, number tables, fun
games to science to multimedia learning platforms, enabling rural children to be engaged
creatively similar to that of a privileged student in an urban environment.
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13. The “Quality Divide”
Picture the Quality Divide in education!
Is There a way to bridge this divide?
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14. Special challenges for rural students
The requirement of Power,
Ruggedness and Water Proofing is
taken care of in the laptop.
The laptop is solar chargeable, is
dust proof, fall proof and water
proof. This means a child in a
village without electricity can use it.
Also, studies have shown that the
laptop has been able to engage
parents and larger society in the
learning atmosphere.
In Thailand, families and smaller
businessmen started using this
laptop at home for accounting
purpose.
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15. A laptop for learning
•1 Watt of power •Fun to learn with
•Solar powered •Wikipedia preloaded
•Shock proof •Video and still camera
•Dust proof •Non glare screen
•Water proof •6 hour battery
•Sun readable •2500 charges
•Mesh network •Tested with 2 million
•Networking with and •Students in 40 countries
Without Internet •512 MB and 1 GB RAM
•Open source •1 Ghz speed
•Maintenance free •Started the Netbooks
•Affordable •eBook like Kindle
•Intuitive •Imagination is the limit
•No need for training to use •Collaborative
•Self-learning
•200+ applications
•100 digital books
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16. What do we Propose..
OLPC proposes to deploy 100,000 laptops in the first phase of the project across the
state. The deployment can happen in Classes 1st or 6th to 8th or the 9th to begin with.
The initial areas can be 2 Districts or Divisions. Or one school per block. Or whatever
the state may prefer as the starting point.
OLPC would provide following services from its side
1. XO V 1.5 laptops
2. 3 Million E-Books
3. Solar Chargers
4. Text Books of the State converted into digital format
5. Maintenance of Laptops for a period of 1 Year
6. Training of Teachers and Students
OLPC is an educational project. Our emphasis is on wholesome development of
learning process that would include XO Laptop as a platform and Books and
Trainings are tools.
Hence OLPC would provide a long term wholesome solution rather than just the physical
form of a Laptop
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17. Deployment Costs
OLPC supplies XO laptops in quantities of 10,000 and its multiples
It costs Rs 14999 inclusive of shipping, insurance, warehousing, local delivery and includes:
•Hardware
•Software
•Networking (Mesh Networking)
•200 Applications
•100 Digital Books
•Teacher’s training
•Student’s training
•One years replacement warranty
We recommend solar chargers, either made in India or the clip on charges made
by OLPC through OEMs
•Locally made solar chargers @ Rs 1300 per laptop
•Clip On Chargers made by the OEM: Rs 1500 per laptop
Pro-rated to child per day: Approx Rs 10
Pro-rated to a school with 100 children:
•Rs 15 Lakhs without solar chargers/
•Rs 16.5 Lakhs with solar chargers
•Plus any monitoring, evaluation, training, feedback and governance costs
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18. Bridging the Digital Divide
• A Laptop that works in the
current environment of the
learner
• Frees them from the
infrastructural bottlenecks
that help create Digital
Divide
• Children can use it without
fear – “wear it like shoes”
• Its part of their eco-system
• Bridges the Digital Divide
• Giving the village children a
window to the world
• Makes learning fun
• Makes better, skilled,
informed citizens
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