It was a disappointment when India didn’t show any interest in the OLPC, but it looks like the non-profit has made considerable progress in the country with some local help:
Two years later, Negroponte is back to open a new office in New Delhi and launch the OLPC program in India on Aug. 4. Despite all the rebuffs, Negroponte’s urge to sell in India is stronger than ever. “India is the largest market for us, and I had to be here,” he says. More important, Negroponte has a new partner—one of India’s politically influential private-sector conglomerates. The Digital Bridge Foundation, part of Reliance ADA Group, owned by Indian billionaire Anil Ambani, is providing the technology backbone and logistics for the installation of OLPC’s white and green XO laptops in primary schools.
Teachers lack adequate training to support the existing curriculum. Adding a layer of technology – especially one that is most likely not readily found at home or at the nearest Internet café – will only make it harder to train them. In addition, the project needs to avoid falling in to the trap where hundreds of laptops wind up as a status symbol in the hands of more affluent students in urban schools.
See my full article at My Blog
From what I heard, its going to be introduced in Maharashtrian School where it shall be tested as a pilot project.
Personally I dont support such a move. I’d rather have ebook readers such as kindle, however if it werent for their exorbant prices