Even when India’s per capita GDP is $3300, it has rejected the proposal of getting involved in the One Laptop Per Child scheme project of US’s Nicholas Negroponte – which is aimed towards providing simple $100 machines to children in developing countries.
The proposal is dropped by Indian ministry on the grounds of “pedagogically suspect”. Our Education Secretary is quoted saying that –
“We cannot visualise a situation for decades when we can go beyond the pilot stage. We need classrooms and teachers more urgently than fancy tools.”
I think, it is not about fancy tools but about providing a basic facility to kids in order to shape a better future. If it had to be a fancy tool, it cud had been made really an expensive machine with hi-fi hardware…and in that case, its purpose had been defied. Moreover, when our Education ministry talks about gap of decades, it itself throws the country in under-developed category.
On the other hand, a country with per capita GDP of $1,400 has got into the project bcoz it saw future in it. I am talking about Nigeria. And I think that they are also looking for more teachers and classrooms but they also want to get the coming generation loaded with the future tools and not so called fancy tools.
Further, Banerjee says,
“We do not think that the idea of Prof Negroponte is mature enough to be taken seriously at this stage and no major country is presently following this. Even inside America, there is not much enthusiasm about this.”
Again, same ranting about the major countries. Why not our country thinks of being the first and not following the others. Every time, they try to hide themselves behind jabbering about major/developed countries. “Even inside America” – this sentence caused lot of disturbance…is America GOD to them? Why not they think about the future prospects on their own and why they always shown quoting America? Why do they feel necessity to give example of any country? And if they start talking about America, they are also supposed to give the reasons for why America is not enthusiastic about it. Does Mr. Banerjee knows that which big IT giants are backing this project and what are is the possibility of failure of this project? I don’t think. All he knows is that America has not responded well to this program, and so we have to.
Long live the democracy! (OR Is this the democracy?)