[OLPC India] More than technology, one has to take on the logic of the decision-making process, I guess! FN Goa: Kids to go to school with laptops soon

[Sameer Verma]

On Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 5:05 PM, Arjun Sarwal <arjun at laptop.org> wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 8:30 PM, Sameer Verma <sverma at sfsu.edu> wrote:
>> On Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 8:18 AM, Frederick Noronha [फ़रेदरिक नोरोनया]
>> <fred at bytesforall.org> wrote:
>>> More than technology, one has to take on the logic of the
>>> decision-making process, I guess! FN
>>>
>>> Goa: Kids to go to school with laptops soon
>>> 10 Sep: Times of India. Kids in Goa could soon be going to school with
>>> laptops in hand with education minister Atanasio Monserrate announcing
>>> that 12,000 students will soon be given the machines costing about Rs
>>> 23,000 each. 168 words. Click here.
>>>
>>> http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Goa/Kids_to_go_to_school_with_laptops_soon/articleshow/3465072.cms
>>>
>>> --
>>> FN * Independent Journalist http://fn.goa-india.org
>>> Blog: http://fredericknoronha.wordpress.com
>>> Tech links from South Asia: http://twitter.com/fn
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> India mailing list
>>> India at lists.laptop.org
>>> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/india
>>>
>>
>> From the article:
>>
>> "Education department sources said the government pays about Rs 23,000
>> for a computer-printer set given under the cyberage scheme. With a tax
>> rebate, laptops can be procured for the same amount, the sources
>> said."
>>
>> At 23,000 per student, that should get you 2.5 XOs per Goan Child :-)
>>
>
>
> Maybe not as much as 2.5  if the cost of deploying servers, power
> solutions etc. is budgeted for ...but the XOs would definitely score

Indeed, there are server costs, implementation, etc. but the XO at
US$200 will still mean 2.5 XOs for RS. 23,000, which is what the Goans
are putting up for one garden variety laptop. Even those conventional
laptops will need servers, printers, etc.

> over conventional laptops in serving the purpose of being deployed
> because of being designed specifically for kids having a number of
> features like collaboration, rugged laptop etc.et...
>
> It would be interesting however to see (and learn from) other XO
> deployments and how they were budgeted for. Anybody has any pointers
> on that?
>

There is a rudimentary costing spreadsheet (XLS) on the Pakistan page
done by the team there. Don't have the link handy though. Something to
glean from our neighbors? :-)

Sameer
-- 
Dr. Sameer Verma, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Information Systems
San Francisco State University
San Francisco CA 94132 USA
http://verma.sfsu.edu/
http://opensource.sfsu.edu/