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The African Accent

• June 05, 2009
• One child's laptop is another child's toy

  Posted: June 5th, 2009, 7:05pm EDT

  Don't get me wrong, I was always for the One Laptop Per Child vision. It sounded [and still continues to] like an idea with untold potential. But there's been some criticisms lately. According to Scidev.net, the laptops are proving to be distractions in the classroom.
  
  In some places, the teachers are not in a position to 'teach' the kids how to use the laptops. Naturally, the kids have adapted quickly and have taught themselves all the fun things the laptops can do. So now, teachers have stated that those things amount to toys in the class. It reminds me of the 80's when African countries borrowed heavily to speed up industrialization; bought machines, built sophisticated hydro dams, then realized that they didn't have the expertise to actually run the show.
  
  The other day, I was thinking of how best to take advantage of the Internet boom that's sure to grip East Africa, now that the undersea fibre optic cables have docked. Cheap[er] high speed Internet, plus goodies like Voice Over IP which is likely to revive dead land lines. I hope it means more blog hits. Anyways, I think I'm far more optimistic about the impact of these cables, than I am about the effectiveness of the laptops in primary schools.
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