En route to Mumbai, I thought I'd pass around some summary information about the new "$10 education laptop" officially announced this week in India.
This has received a great deal of press attention, much of which appears to be (after doing some further investigation) ill-informed / speculative.
Lost in much of the hype has been what is perhaps the more interesting story -- the apparent public commitment by the Indian government to provide subsidized connectivity for schools, colleges and universities, and a related large investment in the development of "e-content", as part of a new "National Mission in Education through Information and Communication Technology (ICT)". Part of this includes the development of a new national ICT in school education policy.
(And despite the sensational headline below, this thing isn't 'useless' -- just perhaps much less useful than many had hoped.)
No doubt there will be more to come in this area.
A sampling of news reports:
- Fox: India's '$10 Laptop' Revealed as Nearly Useless Brick
- The Times of India: India showcases low-cost laptop to bridge digital divide
- The Hindu: ‘Ultra-low-cost’ access device introduced
- Rediff: India unveils $10 laptop!
- Times of India: $10-laptop proves to be a damp squib
Note: Image used at the top of this blog post comes from J.M. Garg via Wikimedia Commons and is used according to the terms of its GNU Free Documentation License.
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