[OLPC India] Issues on the ground

[JV Avadhanulu]

Dear Satish, Thank you for your response. I quit as Director of R&D for D-Link India about a year ago and started living in Auroville. I was excited by OLPC and have been championing it in Auroville for the last one year. I found a lot of issues (which I shared earlier on this list, may be before you joined in). Let me capture the more important ones.
1. Many teachers are not computer savvy and this is an inhibitor to have their mindshare for OLPC
2. Many schools work on a syllabus / evaluation model and unless you have the right courseware and teachers are trained and enabled, the OLPC does not fit into the normal curriculum. Point 4 below refers to this
3. Principals of schools don't have the background to understand the potential of OLPC (in general, the emerging revolution through computer aided interactive learning). They want the so called "Computer Teacher" to advise them. The Computer Teacher normally teaches Microsoft Office applications as per the syllabus and is puzzled about why some thing different is needed to what is going on currently.
4. The sum total of points 1 to 3 above is : while teachers, Administrators, parents and students all have a stake in the future of education, no one owns up OLPC as it falls through the fingers of the collective hands.
5. The current price of Rs 10,000 against the dream price of R$100 is another factor
6. Many Educators and Teachers question the efficacy or even desirability of using computers in school. 
7. There are some legitimate concerns about the safety of XO (or even the child) when they take it home.
8. As Indian Government is not supporting OLPC, the doubters have more doubts. You may remember that I raised this issue during the Video Conference on 5 August and David passed the question to you. Your response (if I remember right) was that you were quite new but assured that you would take this up.
All the factors are interlinked and we can scale up gradually by showing positive results on the ground. I am attaching a two page write-up on Auroville project.
I would be delighted to talk to you over the phone and look forward to your call
Regards,
JV Avadhanulu
+91-9443797563
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Satish Jha OLPC 
  To: JV Avadhanulu 
  Cc: Usha Gowri ; india at lists.laptop.org 
  Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2008 5:25 PM
  Subject: Re: [OLPC India] Issues on the ground


    1. The pilot starts with small numbers. How to order and get them at a reasonable price. 

  We need to scale up on pilots as well.. Prices are cost based and OLPC does not charge a margin. However, smaller shipments have a higher per unit overhead and that reflects in the price differential per lot size. What is teh size of yoru pilot? May I request some more information? May I call you? 

  As regards the following, I am taking it up with the folks who are leading the respective areas.


    2. Need  for CDs of XO-1 and XS images/ installation software. These are so huge that many people cant down load them
    3. Training of teachers and technical teams
    4. A transition plan from the conventional teaching of today to OLPC based education. This may involve some courseware and interactive learning packages to be developed broadly in line with 'standard syllabus'. This would be a huge task
    5. A help line to get technical support when the local resources run into a wall.
    6. The negative stance of the Government is big dampener and inhibits School Administrators and potential funders. Can we do something to shift negative stance of the Government?

    I request other pilot projects / deployment coordinators to add to this list

    Regards,
    JV Avadhanulu
    +91-9443797563 
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