BIG GOALS: Peru sought to equip more than 800,000 public schoolchildren with low-cost laptops. It has ranked among the world's most ambitious efforts to leverage digital technology in the fight against poverty. THE RESULTS: Five years in, there are serious doubts about whether the largest single deployment in the One Laptop Per Child initiative was worth the more than $200 million that Peru's government spent. WHAT HAPPENED: Ill-prepared rural teachers and administrators were too often unable to fathom much less teach with the machines, software bugs didn't get fixed, Internet access was poor and cultural disconnects kept kids from benefiting.
News Summary: Mixed grades for Peru laptop program
— Jul. 3 11:07 AM EDT
You are here
-
In this June 8, 2012 photo, a boy uses his laptop at the Jose Maria public school in a shantytown on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. Peru has sent more than 800,000 laptop computers children across the country, one of the world’s most ambitious efforts to leverage digital technology in the fight against poverty. Yet five years into the program, there are serious doubts about whether the largest single deployment in the One Laptop Per Child initiative was worth the more than $200 million that Peru’s government spent. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)
-
In this June 8, 2012 photo, students use their laptops at the Jose Maria public school in a shantytown on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. Peru has sent more than 800,000 laptop computers children across the country, one of the world’s most ambitious efforts to leverage digital technology in the fight against poverty. Yet five years into the program, there are serious doubts about whether the largest single deployment in the One Laptop Per Child initiative was worth the more than $200 million that Peru’s government spent. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)
Comments