| One Laptop Per Child initiative a hit in rural India |
| Posted by: Susan Einhorn |
| For Walter Bender, co-founder of the One Laptop Per Child initiative, watching 20 children display great familiarity and skills with their XO laptops at a primary school in rural Maharashtra in western India was a proud moment. These laptops had been designed for children aged 6-12 years and Bender had added the "Sugar" interface that makes these machines easy for their use. The laptops were then given to children of a school in this village in Raigad district four years ago. In no time, the children learned the ropes. They can now make their own music, create an animated dance sequence and use it to aid schoolwork. Bender was the co-founder of the laptop initiative that began in 2006 and after leaving it in 2008, he founded Sugar Labs to continue the development of this particular interface. Now on a trip to India to assess the impact the interface was having in rural schools, he said there was greater need for its promotion. The laptops have not reached too many rural schools yet, he found. |
| Source: NDTV (India) | Published: September 6th, 2012 |
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