When the OLPC first made news, a prominent official in the HRD ministry of the Indian government had gone on record snubbing the OLPC project ($100 laptop), even making a preposterous claim that work was under way to create India's own $10 laptop. But as things have worked out, OLPC has already made an entry into India in the form of a pilot project in a rural primary school in a village in the state of Maharasthra.
The OLPC is currently being field tested at the Khairat primary school. The smiles on the children's faces indicate that this is going to be a very successful project if implemented judiciously - ie making sure the long tentacles of corruption do not touch the project.
Fig: Group study in progress
Fig: A student proudly displaying her XO laptop
Fig: Another student with her XO.Carla Gomez Monroy who is overseeing this project being implemented in India has provided a detailed writeup of the day-to-day functioning of the Khairat school, how the OLPC is put to use by the one and only teacher and the students in the school, the bond formed with the villagers and so on. A very fascinating read.
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