23 Aug 2008

Laptop for every Niuean child

7:42 am on 23 August 2008

All children on Niue now have a laptop computer issued under the One Laptop Per Child programme.

The BBC reports 500 XO laptops were distributed this week to primary and high school students.

The rugged, waterproof laptops have been designed as a cheap way to bring the internet to children in the developing world.

There are 4500 more laptops earmarked for the Pacific region as a whole.

Originally the brainchild of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Laboratory, the effort has grown to garner the support of large corporations, including Google.

In 2003, Niue became the first territory to offer free wireless internet to all its inhabitants.

Besides instant wireless websurfing, the schoolchildren will also be able to communicate with each other within a radius of 1km without going online.