Thursday, November 17, 2005

Laptops for the poor

BBC reported today that the UN was unveiling a $100 laptop for the poor.

"The idea is that it fulfils many roles. It is the whole theory that learning is seamless," said Professor Negroponte, who set up the non-profit One Laptop Per Child group to sell the laptops to developing nation governments.



Forget laptops. Get food UN. Learning is all well and good, but satisfying the basic needs of the wretchedly poor is more important than ensuring they get a laptop for learning.

Each laptop can feed a hungry family in Somalia for a month. And what makes you think that providing laptops would be sufficient for children to learn if they do not have a good infrastructure and learning environment in the first place?


P.S. I haven't been reading the news for some time, hence my lack of "knowledge" posts on the world which I was very fond of. I shall subscribe to Straits Times now...

lip
ranting

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