Argentina plan to increase computer access draws corporate competition

Four years ago, a US-based non-profit set out to expand educational opportunities for poor and low income children by creating low-power, durable and internet connected lap-tops. The first One Laptop Per Child  units were delivered to Uruguay and Birmingham, Alabama. Over the last few years, Massachusetts-based One Laptop Per Child has delivered more than one million units. But the new market also caught the attention of computer giants Intel and Microsoft. Now some countries, including Argentina, are contracting with these corporations. FSRN's Marcos Federman reports from Buenos Aires.

TRANSCRIPT:

Argentina's plan is ambitious. The government aims to put a laptop in the hands of every public high school student. It will distribute more than 200,000 net-books this year - and 3 million by 2012.

Argentina's program aims to reduce the digital divide, promote social inclusion and teach job skills.

Some of the first computers were distributed about 30 miles from Buenos Aires, in the impoverished town of Maquinista Savio. Here, students and teachers at technical school number 3 gathered at a ceremony to celebrate the program. Nidia Curlo is the school´s director.

NIDIA CURLO:

[Spanish] Vamos a tener una herramienta nueva que nos va a acercar al mundo globalizado. Este desafio realmente lo vamos a llevar todos juntos y vamos a tener mejores profesionales que es lo que en definitiva esperamos que tengamos en esta comunidad.

[English]: We will have a new tool that will bring us closer to this globalized world. We are going to do this all together and we will have better professionals. That is what this community needs.

During the ceremony, eighth grader Emanuel Moravi accepted the computers on behalf of the student body.

EMANUEL MORAVI:

[Spanish] Muy emocionado, contento por el programa Una computadora para cada Estudiante. Creo que va a ser de gran utilidad en toda la sociedad. Ya que estamos en una epoca de gran avance tecnologico creo que para cada alumno va a ser un gran desarrollo y muy utilizable.

[English] I am very excited, very happy. I think it is going to be of great use for the whole society. We are now in a period of great technological advancement, and I think that every student will benefit and put these computers to good use.

Many argentine families can't afford to buy their children computers. But the laptops will become the student's property after they graduate high school.

The national government originally planned to buy computers from the US-based non-profit, One Laptop Per Child, or OLPC. Officials had seen  positive results in provinces San Luis and La Rioja, and in neighboring Uruguay - where OLPC's ¨XO¨ laptops were distributed amongst primary school students.

But after hard lobbying by Intel and Microsoft, government officials chose Intel´s Classmate over OLPC´s XO.

Mariana Iribarne is a Corporate Manager at Intel Argentina, and she says Classmate netbooks are superior.

MARIANA IRIBARNE: Well, it has a software that allows the teacher to manage the classroom. It can for example share the screen that one student is dealing with. The teacher can also monitor what the students are doing. They can take tests with that software directly managed by the teacher. So it has several uses. In addition to that Intel works with an ecosystem of companies that provide software. Some of it is free, some of it is paid. And the government has chosen 46 different softwares that will come pre-installed with the computer.

On the other hand, Diego Levis was a member of a Consulting Committee that evaluated OLPC's and Intel's computers. He says the OLPC notebooks have a pedagogical advantage and are designed for environments where low-income people live. For example, OLPC laptops can charge their batteries without an electricity connection and their screens can be seen during daylight and under the sun, for students whose schools are outside.  He says not many of his suggestions were taken into account.

DIEGO LEVIS:

[Spanish] Veo una diferencia muy importante. Aparentemente el Classmate que se basa en el Windows esta mas pensada para ser una herramienta pedagogica auxiliar a los metodos tradicionales y no para construir una forma pedagogica innovadoras que puedan servir para ir mas alla de lo que permite un pizarron o la biblioteca del colegio. La OLPC en prinipio, por lo menos lo que hace uruguay, utiliza un software libre diseñado especialmente para ser utilizado en la escuela desde un punto de vista constructivista. Esto significa que un conocimiento se va sumando y es construido por el propio chico, y no una cosa conductista asceta del modo que esta previamente previsto por el programa.

[English] I see a very important difference.  Classmate uses Windows and it is seen as an educational tool that reinforces traditional teaching. It means there is  no pedagogical innovation in the sense that it will be used in the same way the black-board or the library are used. On the other hand, OLPC uses open source software specially designed to be used in the schools with a constructionist point of view. This means that students are actively participating in their own educational process, and not only memorizing the school program.

For a brief, 6-month period in 2007, OLPC and Intel worked together. But that partnership ended after what Intel called "philosophical disagreements". OLPC's founder Nicholas Negroponte did not grant FSRN's interview requests. But in a statement released after the break-up, OLPC accused Intel of violating written agreements and disparaging the XO laptop in developing countries.

Negroponte calculates the market for low-cost, educational computers at 1 billion people. Both OLPC and Intel are competing for this market, and Intel has used its vast resources to outsell its competitor.

In Argentina alone, Intel will sell 3 million netbooks, while OLPC has sold about 1.5 million across 10 different countries.