Re: {OLPC Nepal} Re: [NepSecure] Re: {developers-nepal} Re: Will the OLPC interface ruin computing for millions of kids?

Hey NepBabu,

 

I am no expert on Nepal and an expert on very little, in fact.  But a couple of things are apparent to me after only a couple of months of living here.  This country is not poor in natural resources: it's got hydropower, rich agriculture in the Terai, the renewable resource of tourism, etc.  It is poor in education.  The official literacy rate is around 49% and i think that is very optimistic, especially in light of Maoist-forced school closures.  The existing school system pushes rote learning over creative thinking (so I am told). 

 

To really develop into a prosperous and stable nation, Nepal has to educate its children, all of them.  The One Laptop Per Child project is the quickest and best way to do this.

 

Nepal has 4.5 million school-age children, the majority of them in remote areas.  You aren't going to get traditional brick-and-mortar schools out to those kids in a meaningful time frame.  You aren't going to convince hoards of young teachers to move into rural areas.  Even if you could do all these things, the cost would be 10 times more than the Laptop initiative.

 

The OLPC project will not replace teachers or schools.  The Laptops will replace paper, books, and pens.  Want to know the details?  We're still working them out.  We're just getting started.  And we need your help.
 

Nepal could invest in state-of-the-art hydropower plants, but how many Nepalis would actually work in those plants? Hydropower isn't going to save Nepal. 

 

Look at all the wealthy countries in the world w/ large middle-classes.  They all have very high-rates of education.  If Nepal wants to move forward, Nepalis have to invest in education first, before clean water, hydropower, or even infrastructure.

 

 

Do you believe in the power of FOSS?  Do you believe in the liberating power of education?  Join us:  www.olpcnepal.org 

 

We will be making presentations to the FOSS community, media, government, and pretty much everybody in the weeks to come.
 

--Bryan, participant in OLPC Nepal

 

Disclaimer:  I work at the US Embassy as the IT Manager but this is not a US government project.  I am involved in this project because I think it is the most exciting open source project and the most exciting development project in the world.  If I were back home in Los Angeles I would be working on it there. 

 

On 11/29/06, nepbabu.cx <nepbabu.cx-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

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Hey Shankar's =) Just to clear what I said earlier. Basically, I meant
that it may/may_not be 100% feasible to nepalese condition which I am
not 100% aware of. There are many things that veils our country's
situation (poverty, lack of education, beauracracy, politics,
"mafia-gardi", lack of resource etcetera... to name just a few) so I am
rather unsure whether our goverment will be willing to spend money on
OLPC project.

But rest assured, I am very glad to see progress made by you+Bryan+so
many other people to get support on goverment level + all the donor
agencies. I am rather optimistic that a day will come when child face
will lit with happiness. It'll all be because of you people. Thank
you! =)

btw, Have you guys made concrete contacts with the nepalese media? Get
as much media people as u can behind your back. =)

- --
thanks,
nepBabu.cx
         c c
    .-.,;(")
.'`~C.-.c =W=

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