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Charity laptop in UK
Mark Prigg, Technology Correspondent19.11.08
A low-cost laptop designed for third world children is to go on sale for the first time in Britain today.
The distinctive green and white XO machine will be sold for £275 via Amazon. For every one bought, a second will be donated to a child in a developing country by One Laptop Per Child, the non-profit organisation behind the project.
The scheme has raised $35million in America since it launched last year and has distributed more than 500,000 XO laptops in 31 countries.
Reader views (1)
Before anyone rushes out in a glow of charitable goodness to buy this item, stop and think what 275 pounds could buy in the developing world.
It could buy over a hundred books, which can be shared by many children.
It could buy pens, pencils, geometry sets and other items which help develop high-level literacy and numeracy.
It could pay part of a teacher's salary - one of the main impediments to education is the difficulty of training and paying teachers.
It could buy a second-hand vehicle to transport rural children to school - again this is one of the greatest impediments to rural education.
How many developing world schools even have electricity, let alone a computer connection?
And if you needed any further incentive to avoid this cynical marketing exercise like the plague - there is no "donation" at all. The cost of each laptop is 199 dollars. But if you pay 399, you will get a laptop for a child in your area, and one will be "donated" to a child in the developing world. In my world we call that "purchasing".
If you really want to give 200 dollars to help the developing world can I suggest something like the Under Tree Schools - I have no connection with the charity but I admire their commitment to local and appropriate solutions.
These kids need books and teachers, not expensive and unusable electronic junk.
- Sarahn, London, UK
