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Transforming Our Children’s Future

A Laptop for Every Child

Satish Jha, satish@olpcindia.net

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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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An Approach to Educating the Underprivileged

1. Review Current State2. Review affordability and

cost3. Review future vision 4. Define the Process

Assess current system :

Government

Schools

• Limited infrastructure

• Limited experience and

knowhow to do better

• Caught in a cycle of limited

improvement or no change

• Not at par with the privileged

world

• India has billions of minds, not

providing them with an

education is a terrible waste

• So far it has not been possible

to change the paradigm

Make it Affordable and

Measureable

Create Learning

curriculum in each model

school

• Connect each school with wireless

its cheap!

• Provide each school with a

laptop for each child in the 1st

grade

• Course software to be preloaded on

the computers in local language

• Focus on technology and science

• Create competition among each

school to compete for the prize

money

• Prize money for each village/district

to be funded by Central Govt

• In Year 2 take the competition

Statewide.

Review affordability and

cost of education

• Govt spends Rs 5400 annually

to educate a child barely enough to

prepare a child for manual

work of questionable quality

• Each of these children can do much

better and proof abounds. Traditional

ways to improve education costs

a lot and delivers little.

• We didn’t see the cell phone

revolution coming to India, so why

are we behind in thinking about

the next revolution

• Just reallocate existing budget and

get creative

• Modernization of education is

happening in a linear way as follows

• Get a computer for a school

• A computer lab for the school

• Followed by computer per class

The above approach is dated and

does not make the best use of

opportunities that technologies offer

us

• Time to discard the desktop that

• was designed for the US

• hogs too much energy

• mostly does not work in villages

• is designed for office work and

• NOT for Learning

• Time to adopt the laptop that is

• Designed for villages

• Designed for school education

• Makes “Learning” fun

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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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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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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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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 “11111119....” 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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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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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

source and its zero maintenance

Approximately 20% costs per

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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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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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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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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The “Quality Divide”

Picture the Quality Divide in education!

Is There a way to bridge this divide?

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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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A laptop for learning

•1 Watt of power

•Solar powered

•Shock proof

•Dust proof

•Water proof

•Sun readable

•Mesh network

•Networking with and

Without Internet

•Open source

•Maintenance free

•Affordable

•Intuitive

•No need for training to use

•Self-learning

•200+ applications

•100 digital books

•Fun to learn with

•Wikipedia preloaded

•Video and still camera

•Non glare screen

•6 hour battery

•2500 charges

•Tested with 2 million

•Students in 40 countries

•512 MB and 1 GB RAM

•1 Ghz speed

•Started the Netbooks

•eBook like Kindle

•Imagination is the limit

•Collaborative

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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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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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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