Global General

Special

Newsmaker

Asia Pacific

America

Middle East

Europe

Africa

Free laptops allow Aussie kids to surf, tackle illiteracy

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-12 08:28

ELCHO ISLAND, Australia: Soon after getting a green laptop distributed free to Aboriginal school children in hopes of combating illiteracy and truancy, Jericho Lacey learned his computer was good for more than just homework.

An Australian aboriginal school child works on a laptop computer as part of the "One Laptop Per Child" program in Elcho Island. Organizers behind the program hope to provide the children with opportunities to learn of the world outside their island environment. [Agencies]

From his home on Elcho Island, an impoverished tropical outpost, Lacey writes school essays and occasionally plays "maze games" and surfs the net.

"Hopefully, my children will become digitally connected to the rest of the world," Jericho's father Marcus told Reuters. "This island is not very close to anything."

In the middle of the Arafura Sea and about 2,000 kms northwest of Sydney, the former Methodist mission island is no paradise for its inhabitants. Peanut and banana farming was abandoned decades ago, leaving little or no work on the island.

Alcohol is banned to stem domestic violence and cars run on a type of petrol that can't be inhaled after gasoline sniffing became a popular past-time for the island's youth. Pornography is also banned on the island.

Organizers behind the program hope to combat the monotony of island life with new-found interests such as surfing the net and offering the 1,200 school-age children opportunities to learn of the world beyond the dense swamps that surround the sea.

To date, about 2,000 laptops have been delivered to three schools in Australian communities, where illiteracy can be multi-generational and English is hardly spoken.

The charity was founded by Nicholas Negroponte, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher, and has given computers to school-age children as far away as Cambodia, Rwanda and Papua New Guinea.

Through private donations and corporate sponsorships Barry Vercoe, Barry Vercoe, who heads the Asia-Pacific arm of One Laptop Per Child, hopes to donate 400,000 computers over the next two or three years, all directly to indigenous school children.

Studies indicate that illiteracy among Aboriginal children has long been underestimated. A report by education ministers in Australia estimates one in three indigenous third grade students failed to meet a minimum reading standard established by the government.

Australia is less than two years into a nationwide initiative to intervene in communities heavily populated by Aboriginals, in some instances sending in police and the army to enforce alcohol bans and conduct health checks for children.

Sturdy computers

Designed in Taiwan and manufactured in Shanghai, each rugged XO computer costs $185 and is coated in thick rubber to withstand harsh conditions.

A wireless router enables children to connect with teachers via the Internet. They feature a high-resolution display that can be read in direct sunlight and are known for their low power consumption.

Gary Barnes, an administrator from Australia's Northern Territory Department of Education, said the arrival of personal computers on the island can help teachers but is no cure-all.

Nonetheless, said another teacher at the local school, Dianne Dickinson, "Our students enjoy using them, which is a start."

Reuters