A Million Laptops Bought for Children - Not OLPC

Venezuela has taken a major step towards improving education for the country’s children. It has bought a million cost efficient laptops for educational purposes. And the laptop is not the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) model which has generated so much publicity:

“…Portugal is manufacturing the blue and white laptops under licence from Intel and are broadly based on the chip maker’s design of its Classmate computer.

Dubbed Magalhaes (Magellan), the laptops will have on board low-power Intel Atom chips designed for laptops. They will also sport digital cameras and a broadband net connection.”

link: Venezuela splashes out on laptops

This purchase is not mutually exclusive of Venezuela’s political ambitions. Venezuela wants to become more predominant on an international stage. It recognizes that one of the basic requirements is that the country’s educational standards need to be improved. This focus on education is a recognition that all international super-power nations must have a educated, innovative younger generations. And part of the process is placing a laptop in the hands of its youth.

Catherine Forsythe