OLPC Palestinian territories
| Country Information | |
| ISO Country Code | DZ |
| Wikipedia Article | Territories Wikipedia Link |
| Government Support | Invalid Support Param |
| Deployment | Invalid Deployment Param |
| Languages | |
| Keyboard Layout | French Layout |
| Written | French (fr) |
| Spoken | French (fr) |
| Secondary Written | English (en) |
| Secondary Spoken | lingala, swahili, kikongo et tshiluba |
Bienvenue-Welcome
To all our Palestinian friends, a very happy and congratulations with the 2014 UN International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People !
... and thanks for visiting the pages for OLPC related matters in the Palestinian Territories. OLPC is the One Laptop Per Child Universal Primary Education project and largest educational project undertaken by Humanity ever. Supported by United Nations, OLPC is an "Open Commmunity" project, similar to the Wikipedia and Open Source Community projects, like Linux, OpenOffice, etc. and it is working along Agenda 21 and Millennium Development Goal nr.2: Bringing Universal Primary Education. To edit text on this page or add pages, log in and and "edit page / save page" button will appear.
- 2' video - OLPC Intro part 1
- 2' video - OLPC Intro part 2
- 7' video: Impact on teachers, parents, kids, society.
The aim of this educational project is on one hand to bring Universal Primary Education by 2015 as - anno year 2000 initiated - United Nations Millennium Development Goal nr.2. On the other hand, OLPC's mission is to manage the open hard and software project, to bring forward the best possible laptop combination for education: the XO-XServer combination. For this and above approach, - and also a lot of lobbying by the right persons on the right places and time - the United Nations is a Partner in this Open Community project! It is the largest educational project undertaken by Humanity ever, and deemed by many as one of the most inspiring projects out there. Things are moving very fast indeed: 2008 saw the first 3 countries with full coverage, i.e. with all kids age 5 to 12 equipped with these smallest schools in a box-laptops and Australia is now following at fast pace too, over 86.000 eBooks available, all education disciplines covered, etc. etc..
Many inhabitants have left the region to develop their live and try their luck elsewhere. Therefore there is a very very large diaspora. We hope that this diaspora will work their way to these pages, set-up, link-up their projects with OLPC, coordinate projects and that they can inspire many in their host countries to come along. It is so difficult in these host countries to develop additional value and hence make money. In many regions in the home country however it is so easy as everything is to be developed.
Also the societies from the host countries will benefit from the Palestinian Territories diaspora who has one leg in the host country and another still in their countries of origin. Maybe it will start by developing leadership for OLPC, but soon it will be accompanied by exporting technologies, know-how and experience from the host countries along Agenda 21, the MDG's and together you will be able to accelerate bringing the level of quality of life in Palestinian Territories to a level that will inspire others, existing generations and generations to come.
Please feel free to create links, (sub-)categories or list or start collaborating, teaming up and expanding our and your projects, existing and new ones in one of these (sub-)categories.
Update
Ten years ago, one could only dream about every school in Gaza having a computer. But in April 2010, 5,000 children in UNRWA Gaza schools were provided with a laptop through the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) initiative. Similarly, 1000 children in West Bank also benefited from the generous donation of OLPC. OLPC is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to help provide every child in the world access to a modern education. The distribution of XO laptops in UNRWA schools is fundamental to OLPC’s mission to give connected, power-efficient and robust laptops to children around the world, especially those who have been displaced by conflict or those living in extreme poverty. The Education Department HQ(A) initiated the partnership with OLPC in January 2009 and they have been working closely on the development of localized software and content for theXOs and on teachertraining. More than 150 electronic learning modules are currently being adapted for use on the XO. OLPC and UNRWA are also collaborating on the formatting of electronic textbooks and workbooks for an entire primary school curriculum. After the donation of laptops for Gaza and West Bank, OLPC Chairman and CEO Mr. Negroponte announced that his foundation will make all efforts to provide a laptop to every Palestine refugee child during the coming two years. (as per http://www.unrwa.org/userfiles/2012073132229.pdf )
Community groups
PaleXO
PaleXO is the grassroots Palestinian XO Laptop Community; basically it is a group of people volunteering to put the low-cost custom-designed XO laptops in use at the Palestinian schools, with the aim to improve the local education process.
The idea started when 1000 XO laptops were donated to west bank. A bunch of graduated and under-graduate college students, wanted to help deploy these XO laptops so that the kids will have a better education. The Palestinian XO community consists entirely of volunteer; it is divided into 5 basic teams to distribute the work. PaleXO had workshops for teachers and is now hitting the schools and teaching kids how to use the laptops.
PaleXO just celebrated its 1st Birthday and it has been a very successful year thanks to all the volunteers who were very committed and worked so hard to keep this project alive and prosper in spite of all the obstacles. PaleXO members are glad that they are making kids smile and helping enhance their education. Check out the official PaleXO facebook fan page for all the photos and news:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/PaleXO/310859682495?ref=search&sid=661505407.464862424..1
OLPC UNRWA
- OLPC is working with UNRWA to deploy XOs in Gaza and the West Bank. See the Middle East overview for details.
- http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=662
Local build
Arabic XO Manuals
The XO Getting Started Guide in Arabic was provided, along with other materials used already in OLPC Lebanon.
- OLPC XO Laptop Getting Started Manual; English-Arabic Version -- Media:ArabicXOManual.pdf
Notice
The Palestinian Territories are one of the 18 Belgian governmental cooperation partner countries. In the European Union, it has been agreed that every member state would follow-up and specialise in a limited number of countries it would assist instead of trying to follow every country with needs and in the end having every EU member state doing a bit everywhere, but nowhere with enough budgets and in the end achieving nothing. So, in concertation with the other EU member states, and on the basis of their degree of poverty, aspects of good governance and Belgium’s potential for providing meaningful support, these countries have been selected. The precise criteria for selecting countries are set out in the law on international cooperation, which limits the maximum number of recipients to 18 partner countries. More: http://diplomatie.belgium.be/en/policy/development_cooperation/countries/partner_countries/
Palestinian Territories is a not Least Developing Country as per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_developed_country
| Primary Language | ,|x|Language spoken::x}} |
| Number of Laptops | Number of manufactured laptops::2000 |
| Keyboard Layout | Keyboard::OLPC Arabic Keyboard |
| Build | ,|x|Software release::x}} |
| Date(s) Arrived in Country | ,|x|Has received laptops on date::x}} |
| School Server | ,|x|School server status::x}} |
| Deployment Status | Deployment status::The first 1000 XOs for students in West Bank schools, and 1000 additional XOs for repairs. The first machines arrived in early 2009 with 656 installed, but are being updated. |
| Primary Language | ,|x|Language spoken::x}} |
| Number of Laptops | Number of manufactured laptops::2100 |
| Keyboard Layout | Keyboard::OLPC Arabic Keyboard |
| Build | ,|x|Software release::x}} |
| Date(s) Arrived in Country | ,|x|Has received laptops on date::x}} |
| School Server | ,|x|School server status::x}} |
| Deployment Status | Deployment status::2,100 XOs delivered to a school cluster in Gaza. There was a big ceremony and demo three months after their delivery; things are progressing rapidly here. |
Suggested Links
- The OLPC web site redesign in 2010 featured photographs from West Bank
- What every government should ask itself when considering an ebook deployment
- Stages and Budget
- Will the XO-XS deployment train the Palestinian kids to become even better trained suicide bombers or will it help bring understanding and solutions to get beyond the conflict?
- OBJECTIF BROUSSE Ecoles OLPC
- OLPC Africa
- Deployment Guide