IXL Social Enterprise Case Studies Education January 2012 | Page 8

Revolutionizing the way to make education affordable for everyone

President Paul Kagame drives OLPC Rwanda
As part of Rwanda’s Vision 2020 campaign,
the country has begun embracing information
technology as their main strategy for economic and
social development. This is Rwanda’s long-term
development plan that aims to transform the country
into a medium-level income country by 2020. Even
before OLPC started their project in Rwanda in
January of 2007, bringing computer literacy to
primary school students was an important part of
Rwanda’s Vision 2020.
President Paul Kagame has committed to deploying
120,000 laptops across the country. This is partly
supported by collaboration between the wealthier
city schools and the poorer rural schools. OLPC
has also set up a major learning center in Rwanda,
the Center for Laptops and Learning, which aims to
serve the educational and learning needs of countries
across Africa. With Kagame’s leadership the program
has had some success and serves as an example that
encourages other African countries such as Mali to
follow suit.
Source:
http://laptop.org/en/children/countries/rwanda.shtml,
accessed November 3, 2011

also connect to the Internet and were cheaper
than laptops. Smartphones, a subset of the mobile
phone industry, might be more expensive than
cellphones, but they operated similar to a small
computer, with software similar to the XOs, such
as chat, e-readers and more. However, mobile
phones may not be a good platform for education
given their small form factor.
The Intel Classmate was a direct competitor
with characteristics similar to the XO
But there are some direct competitors. Intel,
whose Intel Classmate launched in May 2006,
was a viable alternative to the XO. Intel saw
developing countries as a potential opportunity
for growth, thus was interested in making a play
in the same markets as those OLPC was in. (See
Table 2 in the previous page for comparisons)
The Aakash tablet was another direct
competitor already spreading in India
In India, Aakash, a low-cost, Android-based
tablet was developed by the Indian Institute of
Technology in partnership with DataWind.32
The tablet is seen as a way to access the one
billion people in India who are left out of the
digital age and to improve education by linking
India’s 25,000 colleges and 500 universities.33
The Indian government is procuring 100,000
tablets at a cost of $48 and would order more
if the initiative proves successful.34 Aakash’s
commercial version, called Ubislate 7, would be
available for purchase in January 2012.

OLPC had used a range of techniques to
deploy 2.5 million laptops successfully
OLPC has leveraged powerful champions
such as Rwandan President Paul Kagame, lead
countries such as Uruguay, pilot programs such
as the one in Arahuay, Peru and alternate donor
programs such as the Give One Get One (G1G1)
to successfully bring 2.5 million laptops to
children around the world.
Found powerful individuals to champion the
program
OLPC tries to build close relationships with
major government players who understand how
to champion OLPC’s offering through their
government’s bureaucracy. Because many of
these governments are relatively centralized,
getting buy-in from a high placed government
official is a very helpful first step.
Focused on lead countries to influence a whole
region
Uruguay has committed and succeeded in
reaching one-to-one saturation in all public
school systems. Peru embarked on a similar
objective and has actually passed Uruguay as
the largest deployment of XOs worldwide.
Large regional successes—their experiences and
publicity—spurs XO adoption in nearby regions.
By demonstrating success in Uruguay, for
example, Peru and Argentina were encouraged to
give the XO a try. OLPC’s experience in Rwanda
and Uruguay illustrates a key success factor for
OLPC: creating successful relationships with
lead customers in global regions.

Uruguay’s “Plan Ceibal” serves as an inspiration for others
Uruguay represented the first large-scale governmental buy-in to reach 1:1. It was called the “Plan Ceibal” —
“Ceibal” being the national flower of Uruguay as well an acronym for the project (Conectividad Educativa de
Informática Básica para el Aprendizaje en Línea). President Tabaré Vázquez was very enthusiastic about the XO’s
potential role in the education of Uruguay’s citizens and publicly announced the plan in December of 2006. With
about 400,000 units included, this plan represented the largest purchase by a single country of the XO laptops until
it was passed by Peru. With this purchase, Uruguay has given every child in public education between 1st and 6th
grade, as well as all of their teachers, one XO laptop.
By 2009, around 70% of the XO model laptops were given to children who did not have computers at home. The
director of the Plan Ceibal, Miguel Brechner, described the goals of the program: “This is not simply the handing
out of laptops or an education program. It is a program which seeks to reduce the gap between the digital world and
the world of knowledge.” In one of many encouraging signs about the Plan Ceibal, the government reported in 2009
that close to 80% of economically disadvantaged children said that using the XOs made classroom assignments more
enjoyable. Success in Uruguay is making neighboring states, such as Argentina and Peru, more enthusiastic about
OLPC’s mission. Argentina, the La Rioja Province, purchased 60,000 XO laptops in 2010 and the Peru signed on to
purchase 260,000 XOs in 2007.
Sources:
https://edutechdebate.org/olpc-in-south-america/olpc-in-uruguay-impressio