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<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>1.</FONT> <FONT color=#000080 size=2>Many
teachers are not computer savvy and this is an inhibitor to have their
mindshare for OLPC</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>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</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>5. The current price of Rs 10,000 against the
dream price of R$100 is another factor</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>6. Many Educators and Teachers question the
efficacy or even desirability of using computers in school. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>7. There are some legitimate concerns about the
safety of XO (or even the child) when they take it home.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>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.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>All the factors are interlinked and we can scale
up gradually by showing positive results on the ground. </FONT><FONT
color=#000080 size=2>I am attaching a two page write-up on Auroville
project.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2>I would be delighted to talk to you over the
phone and look forward to your call</FONT></DIV>
<DIV>Regards,<BR>JV Avadhanulu<BR>+91-9443797563</DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=satish@laptop.org href="mailto:satish@laptop.org">Satish Jha OLPC</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=jv@auroville.org.in
href="mailto:jv@auroville.org.in">JV Avadhanulu</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=usha.gowri@gmail.com
href="mailto:usha.gowri@gmail.com">Usha Gowri</A> ; <A
title=india@lists.laptop.org
href="mailto:india@lists.laptop.org">india@lists.laptop.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, November 09, 2008 5:25
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [OLPC India] Issues on the
ground</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
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<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2><STRONG>1. The pilot starts with small
numbers. How to order and get them at a reasonable price.
</STRONG></FONT></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>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? </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>As regards the following, I am taking it up with the folks who are
leading the respective areas.</DIV><BR>
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<DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2><STRONG>2. Need for CDs of XO-1 and XS
images/ installation software. These are so huge that many people cant down
load them<BR>3. Training of teachers and technical teams<BR>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<BR>5. A help line to get technical support when the local resources run
into a wall.<BR>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?</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#000080 size=2></FONT></STRONG> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2><STRONG>I request other pilot projects /
deployment coordinators to add to this list</STRONG></FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#000080 size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Regards,<BR>JV Avadhanulu<BR>+91-9443797563
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