OLPC and Bangladesh

I would like to highlight some of the comments made by the ITGS class in response to OLPC Keeping in Touch posting last week. It seems that many of you have the opinion that the $100 laptop will not be suitable for Bangladesh given current infrastructure and levels of literacy.

Reem said: "I think the OLPC is something that will bring immense changes in all fields but once it has been implemented properly. I think that for the first couple of years, problems such as theft and a loss in developing countries in expected."

Wasi said: " I do not think that the OLPC program will succeed in Bangladesh and other developing countries. First of all .......... the OLPC it is a 100 million dollar project. Frankly speaking 100 million dollars is extremely expensive for many developing nations.

Bangladesh already can produce decent brand new desktop computers with a price tag of Tk. 9,000. Second hand desktop computers can be bought for around Tk.5,000 to 6,000 range. Now if we do some calculations $100 is equivalent to around Tk.7200.

If Bangladesh purchase’s these laptops we lose a large amount of our valuable foreign currency reserve. Why don’t we develop and experiment with the indigenous Tk.9000 desktop and try to bring down the price? This implication will be very useful for Bangladesh and other developing nations to adopt because by buying indigenous products the government will be supporting its own industries. This will be encouraging private sector, new employment will be created and thus it will be a big boost for the local economy. Consequently creation of such an industry will be a matter of nation pride and this concept or our products could be introduced or exported to other developing nations.

Bangladesh government has already donated about 10,000 desktop to government run school throughout the country. ..... Unfortunately many of the computers are in use and they are still packed because teachers in schools lack adequate training to operate such machines. In that case lack of training and trainers will make the $100 laptop of little or no use to the children. Furthermore greater changes in our education system are required before introducing the $100 laptop."

Nader said: "Not only do the local communities have to learn how to utilize these devices, but if they are expected to follow the mainstream of digital technology, they must be connected like the rest of the world; to the internet, to a reliable power source, etc."

Ishad said: "initially training centres can be opened up by the government to provide training in order make the OLPC programme succesful..because the literacy rate in BD is extremely low...less than 50% of the population cannot read or write...for an underdeveloped country like BD this might be too soon to invest on the IT sector because the majority of the population are deprived of primary education. therefore i dont think OLPC programme is viable in bangladesh."

Saif said: "Also, even if underpriviledged children are provided with the laptops, don't they need the basic computing skills to use them? I think before a country like Bangladesh takes in the OLPC project, the government should first start a training program, and educate the underpriviledged, raise the IT literacy rate. Just purchasing the technology and spending money on such projects will not work, the main area which lacks improvement is education."

My question this week is, what are the costs involved in implementing OLPC? If the Bangladesh government went ahead and planned for a shipment of these devices what other costs woudl they incur? What planning would need to be done? What infrastructure and training needs to be instigated?