After Uruguay, Peru has placed an order for One Laptop Per Child laptop. The Ministry of Education of Peru has announced that they will buy up to 40,000 OLPC XO laptops from the non-profit foundation in the beginning.
Peru has also maintained an option to order an additional 210,000 OLPC notebook computers. Initially, the government will distribute the 40,000 XO units to primary school children in remote and rural one-classroom schools, which is expected to be completed by February 2008. Later, Peru will distribute 210,000 laptops in areas of extreme poverty, throughout 2008.
“Our decision to work with One Laptop per Child was a relatively easy one. We have been applying the constructionist learning theory for more than 20 years in Peru and the XO laptop is the perfect tool for children to learn by doing, sharing and expressing themselves. The low cost of the laptop as well as its unique features –the display readable in direct sunlight, the mesh network and the overall ruggedness of the machine – make it a great fit for the remote and rural villages of our country,†said Oscar Becerra, General Director for Educational Technology of the Ministry of Education of Peru.
Furthermore, the Tumbes region (located in the northwest of Peru, bordering with Ecuador) has already started working with the non-profit organization. The region plans to offer the OLPC XO devices to its 22,000 school children.
“Peru’s understanding of constructionist learning theories is so mature and longstanding that other countries can benefit from this important decision. The XO laptop is clearly the right choice for advancing the education of children in remote and rural environments. While we immediately see the difference the laptop makes in the lives of these children, we look forward to the long-term positive impact it will have on the eradication of poverty and on societies’ other great challenges,†said Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of One Laptop per Child.
Now, with so many orders in hand, OLPC will surely achieve its aim of providing computers to the poor for education purposes.
