Countries
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See also:
- Ask OLPC a Question about Countries
- OLPC Status by Country
- OLPC Country Statistics
- OLPC_world_map showing status of countries
- Category:Countries
Countries shown in Green on the Map: "those countries we plan to pilot: Argentina, Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Libya, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Thailand, United States, Uruguay"
This is a page for unofficial notes about OLPC country discussions.
Country News
Almost all of the news put here before the start of production is not only out of date, but meaningless. Nicholas Negroponte has admitted that he underestimated the difference between a handshake with a head of state and a signed contract. Part of that difference is due to the widespread requirements for appropriations from legislatures and public RFQs. Another large part is due to politics.
Those countries that said No apparently meant it. Those that said Yes may have changed government, or may be considering alternative educational computers, or may have other reasons for backing away. Thailand had a coup, and Nigeria had an election.
- Actual orders: Uruguay, Peru, Alabama (US)
- G1G1 targets: Haiti, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Mongolia, Afghanistan
Haiti
We are localizing the XO software into Kreyol Ayisyen (Haitian Creole French), the principal language of Haiti. The French localization will also be used.
Uruguay--Yes
December 14, 2006 President Tabaré Vázquez officially announced his and the country's intention to enter into OLPC and to provide every child in Uruguay with a laptop within two years. Uruguay did a test run in early 2007. In October 2007 an order for 100,000 laptops was placed, making Uruguay the first country to purchase a full order of laptops. An additional 200,000 more laptops have been ordered to cover all public school children between 6 and 12 years old.
See also Ivan Krstić's blog and OLPC Uruguay
Peru
A modest order now (Nov. 2007), and an appropriation possible at the end of December for a larger order next year.
The appropriation for 100,000 units came through in Dec. 2007.
Romania--No
OLPC News, an independent news site, has noted reports from Romania that the government has rejected the OLPC program. hotnews.ro reports,
House Commission head Lia Olguta Vasilescu said they believed the 700 million euro needed for the procurement of the laptops was too much an amount and would weigh heavily on the Education Ministry budget. Vasilescu also said that "beside that the laptops are simple toys, they’re not even have an expiring date". "We, the Parliament, do not want to support this project because there’s no money" for it."
The quoted figure of 700 million euros does not make sense, since there are only about 2.5 million K-12 students in Romania, according to UNICEF population figures.
Note: Only 930.000 kids between 6-14 years.
Argentina
A commitment from Argentina was announced, but has not been confirmed since production started.
OLPC Blog in Argentina in Spanish
Brazil
Brazil has to put its plans for school laptops out to bid. This process began in December 2007, but has not concluded. The government failed to inform bidders that import duties were to be waived.
The main headline and story on the front page of Friday's edition of Valor Econômico, one of the major business newspapers of Brazil, affirmed the government's intention to enter into agreement with OLPC this year. The story highlighted Cezar Alvarez, a top staff member of President Lula, who is in charge of all projects for social and economic inclusion.
David Cavallo reports that the Brazilian government is finalizing their plans for all aspects of laptop roll-out. As the project to date has been coordinated by the presidency with the assistance of the Ministry of Education, they will now begin to work more deeply with other ministries.
The presidency has created a new working group inside the Ministry of Education to focus solely on laptops and learning. The group is comprehensive, covering all the necessary departments: basic education; teacher and content development; technology; distance support; and integration and coordination. This group will coordinate all activities needed for the deployment of laptops.
Nicholas and David spent Friday in São Paulo, to meet with President Lula. Rodrigo Mesquita, to whom we owe our presence in Brazil, organized and attended the meeting. Lula publicly reaffirmed Brazil’s commitment to one laptop per child. He expressed a deep connection to those in Brazil that lack opportunity, his belief in the children, and his faith in the importance of connected laptops available to all.
Libya
In spite of the MOU described below, there is no deal yet. If there is a deal, it will likely be much smaller. It is reported that Libya is considering other computers.
OLPC News (2006-10-14) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
Libya and OLPC signed an MOU in which they agreed to work together towards the deployment of one OLPC laptop for every school-age child in Libya and contributing laptops to poor African nations. OLPC will provide the support needed by Libya to plan and carry out such a deployment. The signing took place during a visit by Nicholas, Walter Bender, and Khaled Hassounah, where they met with members of the newly formed OLPC4Libya steering committee. The committee was presented with the outline of a comprehensive plan to distribute the laptops, create connectivity and server infrastructure, and prepare teachers and students. Libya will send a team to the OLPC office in Cambridge to focus on software (Linux), infrastructure, and education content.
Nigeria
Since the election, the new government has shown no interest in OLPC XOs. It may be considering other computers.
Although we have not seen an announcement of a Nigerian deal, it is listed in an OLPC press release as one of six countries signed up for the laptop.
India
3 Jul, 2006 The Times of India reports that the government of India has rejected the OLPC program for now.
Latest: OLPC project gaining momentum in India through the formation of an OLPC-India foundation. See OLPC India page for the latest details and pilot project for details on the pilot project.
Rwanda
Rwanda is a target country for G1G1. The government has not placed any orders of its own.
Kigali, 3 January 2007
Rwanda commits to “one laptop per child” initiative
In recognition of children being Rwanda’s most precious natural resource, the government of Rwanda has committed to provide one laptop per child to all primary school children within five years.
This commitment was confirmed as H.E. President Paul Kagame met with Prof. Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairperson of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) at Urugwiro Village on Tuesday.
USA--Talking
MIT News Office October 5, 2005
Gov. Mitt Romney wanted Massachusetts schoolchildren to get the $100 hand-crank laptops developed at the MIT Media Lab, but Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney says nothing about it.
See OLPC USA
Other Countries
Korea -- driven by a few citizens
-- The content in this section is written by XO Korea, not OLPC --
Korea and XO Korea has a somewhat peculiar OLPC aspect different from other nations; an active OLPC participant without any governmental intervention. Though there is no official announcement from its government level, a few citizens living in the Jejudo Island have been actively prepared XO deployment in Korea, and, undoubtly, there will be XOs all around the nation in a few years, if their efforts are NOT in vain.
Currently XO Korea is a small citizen group, led by Do Young-Min, 도 영민, without any official relationship with the OLPC Foundation, but, in a few weeks, there will be well organized citizen group to deploy XO, to provide XO related services to schools etc., and to develop a game, XO City, which all of XO Korea's efforts are on.
Another peculiar aspect of XO Korea is to make (rather than develop) a few XO variations, Larger OLPC and Mesh Phone. Those machines are just shape variations of XO laptop without any revolutionary brand-new technologies such as dual mode display or mesh.
North Korea is not on the horizon yet. On current form, it will be the last country on Earth to allow laptops in. But who knows? They are talking about ending the Korean War officially, with a Peace Treaty and all, and about reopening the railroad lines for trade between South Korea and China.
Macedonian Republic
This is FYROM, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Every Student in the Republic of Macedonia to Use Ubuntu-Powered Computer Workstations November 20th, 2007
Macedonia is installing 180,000 computers running Ubuntu. Schools run in two shifts, so this gives each of their 360,000 schoolchildren a computer while in school, but not at home.
OLPC Groups
see also: Category:Countries
- OLPC China Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, others
- OLPC Ethiopia Amharic, others
- OLPC India 22 official languages, 10 writing systems
- OLPC Nepal Nepalese - There is another group active in Nepal OLE Nepal
- OLPC Pakistan
- OLPC Philippines English, Braille
- OLPC Russia Russian, others
- OLPC Rwanda English, French
- OLPC South Africa English, Afrikaans, Xhosa, others
Extremadura is the poorest region of Spain; it is also the site of the first large-scale deployment of Linux desktop systems in the world, primarily into schools. Over 80,000 desktops have been deployed to date, with near saturation (>50%) in high schools, but fewer numbers in elementary schools (typically in computer labs). The deployment is seen as a success, and is now spreading beyond schools and libraries to the regional government as a whole. Jim visited the project in order to gain insight into the issues that arise in the schools. Although Extremadura's experiences are only partially applicable to ours, they are generally positive.
- OLPC USA English, Cajun French, Spanish, Native American languages, dozens of immigrant community languages including Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, Kreyol Aiysyen, etc.