Saturday, August 23, 2008

Laptops for Every Child

This week Niue, a small South Pacific country, distributed 500 laptops to primary and secondary schoolchildren as part of their One Laptop Per Child program. The country plans to handout 4,500 more laptops in the coming weeks. The goal is to give every child a laptop, which would help close the digital divide and give Niuean child access to the Internet. 

Niue had been ahead of the technological curve before. In 2003 it began providing free wireless Internet for all residents, making it the first territory to offer such services to its citizens. It's amazing when an entire country looks to the future and takes steps to guarantee its citizens can be an active and effective part of that future. Niue had done that by allowing their children to seek knowledge and skill. 

(Originally reported by the BBC.) 

5 comments:

Nancy Paoletti said...

YEAH! for them. It's wonderful, and I hope other countries would learn a lesson from this.

The Baroness said...

That's a beautiful idea. I think every country should start this program, especially those without a good school system.

Man Named Kim said...

it does take technology to grow, communicate and learn these days. in some way, i dream that the internet will assist in the uniting of our world. where better to begin than with children.

Namaste'

Anonymous said...

That's a great idea! Thanks for sharing, Kim.
I'm impressed by their commitment to their children, and to learning and growth!

Sabrina said...

this is a great story - i hope it continues with more children.