Press Release

One Laptop per Child Program to be Launched in Afghanistan

Kabul, Afghanistan  | Tuesday, February 10, 2009

On February 10, 2009, the first deployment of 500 laptop computers will be handed over by the Afghan Ministry of Education (MoE) to the Estiqlal High School in Jalalabad, marking the launch of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program. 

These computers will be integrated into public schools’ teaching curricula, providing students with vast educational resources including access to word processing, email, and the internet.  These tools may also be used by families to access training, job information, and resources to develop and improve farms and small businesses.

This innovative program brought together expertise from the public, private, and NGO sectors and linked international organizations to local implementers.  Together, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology will incorporate these computers into the public school system.  Roshan Social Programs is providing network utilities and internet connectivity.  Paiwastoon Networking Services Ltd., an Afghan IT firm, developed Dari and Pashtu translations of the software and training materials and is researching economic development applications for this hardware.  The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through its small and medium enterprise development project, provided organizational support in connecting these partners to OLPC, as well as financial and logistical support for the creation of online Dari training, a localized business creation toolkit, and a marketing campaign to promote and expand the program’s implementation as a tool for economic development.

The computers to be distributed are the product of years of collaboration between academia and the business community in the United States.  Each machine is equipped with a wireless router that allows for computer and internet connectivity – even in the remotest regions of Afghanistan, students and entrepreneurs will be connected to each other and to the world.  Especially crucial for rural areas with power constraints, this model only uses about 25% of the power usage of a regular laptop, and has the ability to be solar or foot powered.  OLPC’s model also features a Dari or Pashtu keyboard.  It is hoped that the educational and economic development successes experienced in other OLPC countries, like Peru and Uruguay, can be replicated in Afghanistan. 

The One Laptop per Child program is a U.S. non-profit organization that aims to improve education in the developing world through the provision of low cost laptop computers as a way of stimulating economic growth and eradicating poverty.  OLPC has committed to supplying 5,000 laptops to the MoE for deployment across the country in order to empower tomorrow’s generation to tackle such problems as underdevelopment, malnutrition, and disease.  After years of war and instability when such technology was banned, the entrance of this powerful tool will improve Afghanistan’s educational system, develop human capacity, and create opportunities for much needed income generating activities.