Delivering his lecture on ‘‘ Technology, Education and Learning’ ’ at Amity University, Noida , Negroponte, while elucidating how powerful a solution, education is, pointed out that ‘‘ half of 1.2 billion children across the globe are deprived of primary education and thereafter there is no opportunity for them.’’ The lecture was organised by Amity and Times Foundation.
Speaking on the genesis of the OLPC concept , Negroponte said: ‘‘ At MIT we were trying to understand how children learn and we realized that the first five years of learning takes place without a teacher. At about six we are sent to school where we start learning by being taught. There is a sharp break, he learns by what is being told to him by teachers and remembering becomes the fundamental tool of learning. This is notable in India too. For the next 10 years what the child undergoes is rote learning, which isn’t learning at all.’’
Emphasizing the importance of laptops in doing away with ‘‘ rote learning’’ , he drew on his own observation in MIT. ‘‘ When children write computer programs, it is the closest approximation to thinking about thinking. Whenever a computer program is written, it never works the first time. It has to be debugged which involves a lot of creativity on the part of the children. That is closest to learn how to learn.’’
Sharing the success story of OLPC, he said that in 2001 they experimented in a village in Cambodia where the average income was $ 46. The children were allowed to take the laptops home. ‘‘ The laptops were the brightest source of lights at the homes. It changed their lives. The children became the agents of change and almost nine years later all these students are still in school,’’ said Negroponte.
He ended his lecture stating that his is a nonprofit initiative and idea, an educational project and by no means an IT solution. ‘‘ We can make available laptops at $100 by 2012 which is with properties to generate music and intranet connection . They will not support powerpoint presentation as at primary level we are not creating professionals, but creative minds,’’ he explained.
While stating that he received a negative response from India three-years back, Negroponte said: ‘‘ The president of Peru committed for a laptop for each child and Uruguay has already implemented that. Could India do this to all 250 million children? Yes, and if nothing happens, at least this would definitely kill rote learning.’’
source: economicstimes