Laptop computers for 800,000 low income students in El Salvador

This week El Salvador's Education ministry discussed an ambitious program aimed eventually to have laptop computers in the hands of 800,000 students in poor rural schools.

The computers come from the One Laptop Per Child initiative which was formed to place low cost durable laptop computers in the hands of children to jump start education and learning. The XO computer from OLPC is designed specifically for use by children in poor communities around the world.

According to a news report, the government project, called Closing the Knowledge Gap, currently has the computers in the hands of 400 students in five rural schools in Chalatenango. A year from now, the goal is to have the computers in the hands of 78,000 students in 411 schools, and 800,000 students within 4 years. Students can take the rugged little laptop computers home to continue the process of learning with their family.

To learn more about this project, you can read this blog entry from a participant in teacher training at the Evangelical University in El Salvador or watch thisvideo which starts with happy children from Peru with their XO laptops and continues with pictures from a training session for teachers in El Salvador:



You can also watch another video showing two happy boys with OLPC laptops.