India Calls Negroponte Immature

India has decided against getting involved in Nicholas
Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child scheme – which aims to provide kids
in developing countries with a simple $100 machine.

The success of the project depends on support, and big orders, from governments.
The loss of such a potentially huge, and relatively technically sophisticated
market, will be a serious blow.

The Indian Ministry of Education dismissed the laptop as "paedagogically
suspect". Education Secretary Sudeep Banerjee said: "We cannot
visualise a situation for decades when we can go beyone the pilot stage.
We need classrooms and teachers more urgently than fancy tools."

Banerjee said if money were available it would be better spent on existing
education plans.
Banerjee told the Hindu: "We do not think that the idea of Prof
Negroponte is mature enough to be taken seriously at this stage and no
major country is presently following this. Even inside America, there
is not much enthusiasm about this."

OLPC’s original schedule was to deliver machines by the end of 2006,
but it will not start production until it has received orders, and payment,
for between five and ten million machines.

But in better news it also emerged earlier this month that Nigeria is
ordering one million machines. Allafrica.com has the story here.

Sources say the Nigerians will pay for their laptops
with $100 million in US Postal Money Orders, contributed by Dr. Rev.
Jefferson Ezekiel Lumbago, ex-Minister of Finance.

from The Register