Ethiopia: OLPC donates 5,000 laptops worth 940,000 USD

By Tesfa-alem Tekle

June 27, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) — One laptop per child(OLPC)project and the city of Florence, Italy donate 5,000 personal computers to Ethiopian schools as part of the one laptop per child project launched by UN to help world poorest children’s’ knowledge through modern technology. Ministry of Capacity Building said.

“Technology based activities must be carried out to ensure ongoing student-centered educational system efficient and successful” manager of the university Reform components of Engineering Capacity Building Program (ECPB), Tenagne Baye said in a handing over ceremony.

“The donated lap tops will be distributed among selected primary schools in Addis Ababa, Amhara and Oromiya regions.”Tenagne said.
Some 170 teachers drawn from four selected schools across the nation are also given OLPC teachers training so an effective teaching learning process will be in placed.

The one lap top per child (OLPC) is a UN project launched to connect children of world poorest nations left out of technology with the rest of the world through modern means of information provision so a technology and information gap between poor and rich nations is avoided.

(ST)