The massive delivery of free laptops for schoolchildren -- begun on an experimental basis nearly three years ago in Uruguay -- is booming throughout Latin America, and will have both positive and disturbing effects on future generations in the region.
On March 17, Peru signed a deal for an additional 260,000 laptops from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program, a nonprofit venture that is selling laptops for $188 each. The new order will bring to 590,000 the number of laptops delivered to Peru's elementary school children under a program that provides most of the machines to one-teacher schools in poverty-stricken rural areas. |
