One Laptop Per Child Secures Orders from Alabama and Peru

The City of Birmingham, Alabama has signed a memorandum of understanding to purchase 15,000 XO laptops from One Laptop per Child, while the Ministry of Education of Peru has also signed an agreement for the initial purchase 40,000 XO laptops with the option to order an additional 210,000 units.

The Birmingham XO laptops are to be distributed to children and teachers from grades 1-8 by April 15, 2008. The laptops are part of the city’s commitment to improve the quality of life for its children by, among other things, raising the quality of their educational experience both in the school system and in their homes. The first 40,000 Peru laptops will be distributed to primary school children in remote and rural one-classroom schools starting now and to be completed in February 2008. The 210,000 units will be distributed throughout 2008 and cover all extreme poverty areas.

“Birmingham’s participation in the One Laptop per Child project is an important step forward in improving the future of our city,” said Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford. “We live in a digital age so it is important that all our children have equal access to technology and are able to integrate it into all aspects of their lives. We are proud that Birmingham is on its way to eliminating the so-called ‘digital divide’ and to ensuring that our children have state-of-the-art tools for education.”

“We applaud the city of Birmingham for being the first city in the United States to equip all its primary and middle school children with laptops,” said Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of One Laptop per Child. “While our focus to date has been on children in the developing world, there is no question that there is a digital divide here at home. It’s great to see an American city taking proactive steps to close the divide and to provide its youngest citizens with equal access to technology and learning.”

“Our decision to work with One Laptop per Child was a relatively easy one,” said Oscar Becerra, General Director for Educational Technology of the Ministry of Education of Peru. “We have been applying the constructionist learning theory for more than 20 years in Peru and the XO laptop is the perfect tool for children to learn by doing, sharing and expressing themselves. The low cost of the laptop as well as its unique features –the display readable in direct sunlight, the mesh network and the overall ruggedness of the machine – make it a great fit for the remote and rural villages of our country.”

“Peru’s understanding of constructionist learning theories is so mature and longstanding that other countries can benefit from this important decision,” said Nicholas Negroponte, founder and chairman of One Laptop per Child. “The XO laptop is clearly the right choice for advancing the education of children in remote and rural environments. While we immediately see the difference the laptop makes in the lives of these children, we look forward to the long-term positive impact it will have on the eradication of poverty and on societies’ other great challenges.”

Since May 2007 Peru has been evaluating the XO laptop with 60 school children in Arahuay, a remote agricultural village in the Andes mountains. Educators began seeing positive results the very first week of the pilot and the enthusiasm and progress have continued since then.