For around 4 years now as I’ve wandered the world’s roads and visited schools in developing countries, I’ve continually asked myself the same question : “Could it be possible for all these millions of children, full of life, excited by learning and asking for nothing more than to keep on learning, to have access to an education in the true sense of the word, an education going beyond just learning reading, writing, and arithmetic ?”

I have spent hours seeking the answer to this question through reflection, meetings, and readings about innovative projects. Around 2 years ago, I came across an article about a project called “OLPC” (which means literally “One Laptop Per Child”) directed by Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder of the famous MIT (Massachussetts Institute of Technology) based in Boston, USA. This man’s ambitious vision, and the goal of the project, is to ensure that each child on earth has a portable computer with access to the internet. “A computer needs to be used like a pen and every child needs to have his own in order to learn every day, whether it’s through games, educational programs, or internet ... Children are like sponges ; they learn very quickly and plunge rapidly into technological exploration”, he says.

Crazy idea ? Impossible to achieve ? Too ambitious ? Perhaps. But one thing is certain : Nicholas Negroponte and his team have launched themselves into the adventure of it and are determined to make the project a reality. The portable computer destined to go to children in developing countries won’t be a typical laptop. It will be basic, it will cost only $100 US dollars ($150 until the end of 2008), it will use Linux rather than Microsoft as its operating system, and will use only a small amount of power. The engineers who have worked on the XO (the name given to the computer) are keeping in mind that most of those who will benefit from the computers have little electricity at their disposal.

Below, a photo of the XO. Production will begin in June 2007.

The “OLPC” organization is a non-profit organization rather than a classic business enterprise. The sale of these machines will be solely to governments that will then distribute them to students. The production cannot begin without a minimum of 5 million orders. Argentina, Brazil, Libya, and Thailand have already placed orders for numerous machines. The association of Nicholas Negroponte hopes to deliver 50 million units by the end of 2008.

So, is it a good idea ? Is it reasonable to give a laptop to each child when, at the same time, large numbers of the world’s children die of famine or malnutrition every year ? Nicholas Negroponte responds to this objection by clearly stating, “it’s not either, or... the engineers at MIT specialize in technology not nourishment. Others need to take charge of the problems of providing food and healthcare”.

But of what use will a portable computer be to children who have received practically no education ? How can they benefit at all from what a computer and access to the internet can offer ? To answer these questions that I repeatedly asked myself, I went to Reaksmev, a small village right in the heart of Cambodia.

Situated in the province of Preash Vihear, this village is like many other rural villages. Accessible only by unpaved roads full of potholes, fragile wooden houses, subsistence agriculture allowing villagers to feed themselves but not much more ... basically, rural Cambodia. However, in this village, Nicholas Negroponte and his wife Elaine 7 years ago sponsored the construction of a school, and it is here that they wish to pilot the project with their little protégés.

In 2002, he decided, together with his son Dimitri, to install a satellite internet connection, an electrical generator, and to give the school about 50 portable computers made by IBM and Panasonic (the XO was not yet in production). The children could, each in turn, take these computers home and learn by themselves how to use them. At the school, a teacher was recruited to teach the basics of computing, and another to teach English, indispensable for entering into the universe of computer software and the internet.

Below, several photos of the sponsored school ...

The children learn to use the computer.

During my stay in Reaksmey, I had the occasion to talk to the teachers and find out that the task is ambitious and difficult, but far from impossible. The children learn very quickly to use the machines and improve their English day by day.

Given that the children have not yet mastered reading the language of Shakespeare (very different from Khmer, which has a totally different alphabet), their use of the internet is, for the moment, very limited. “We have just started to use Google Images,” the professor told me.

The most popular activity on the computer is using programs like “Let’s Go” to learn English the fun way, and “Scratch” a program designed to help children develop their critical thinking ability.

“The primary objective is to stimulate their intellectual capacity and to encourage them to become brighter and more intelligent” says Naomi, the teacher who is convinced that her students progress day by day. “We are not hoping to turn these children into computer professionals or even to push them to go to the city to learn new skills ; our goal is simply to teach them how to learn for themselves, to make them more curious and ultimately to help with the development of their community”.

Below, 2 photos of an educational program for learning English.

I have to admit that I’m very fond of this project and sincerely hope that a maximum number of children across the world can rapidly develop their intellectual capacities thanks to the tool of computers. Of course, finding good teachers capable of correctly teaching computers and English will be something indispensable and difficult, but certainly not impossible. Most schools I visited in developing countries had few or no problems with malnutrition or famine ; they had students who were full of life and asked for nothing more than to learn more. “Put a child from the jungle, who has never been outside his native environment, in the city of Paris for 2 months - he will come back speaking fluent French - children have a formidable capacity to adapt” Mr. Negroponte likes to say.

Apart from the above objectives, to have internet access in remote areas could also make “telemedicine” a reality. In this way, the first Monday of each month, a connection by webcam is established between a doctor in Boston and the villagers looking for solutions to their health problems. This is a system which certainly has a big future.

Below, a photo with some students from the school...

I would like to offer you a glimpse of my own experience in a 6 minute video which you can access below :

See you soon. Ludo