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19 August, 2007
Addis Ababa, August 18, 2007 (WIC)– The distribution of 50,000 laptops among school children in Ethiopia will begin in the metropolis on August 22, 2007,making the country the first in Africa to adopt the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative, according to the Engineering Capacity Building Program(ecbp).
A press release sent to WIC by ecbp revealed that the first set of laptops would be distributed among students of Atse Naod School on Wednesday.
Engineering Capacity Building Program noted that the OLPC, a non profit initiative, is brought to Ethiopia in order to give children a new opportunity for their education.
During the occasion, Nicholas Negroponte, Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and founder of the Cambridge based NGO, OLPC, is expected to introduce the initiative which he explains as “an education project, not a laptop project” and what he hopes it will achieve in Ethiopia.
The laptops, each at a cost of 170 dollars, are donated by the Italian government and will be rolled out in various states by ecbp, making them accessible to children throughout the country, the press release indicated.
State Minister of Education Wondessen Kiflu and Italian Ambassador to Ethiopia Raffaele de Lutio are going to attend the ceremony, it was learnt.