One Laptop per Child launches first project in SA

Learners of the Masibambane College in Orange Farm get to grips with their new XO tablets. From left to right: Anton Luttig, Regional Director for South and East Africa at MoneyGram; Pieter Steyn, Headmaster of Masibambane College and Mark Kaplan, Executive Director of One Laptop per Child South Africa.

The donation event celebrated the Masibambane scholars as the first South African recipients of OLPC's information and communication technology (ICT) learning environment programme.

To combat social exclusion and encourage individual empowerment

The MoneyGram Foundation's grant facilitated the initiation of the OLPC pilot program and provided access to technology for the Masibambane school as a way to support and supplement its existing curriculum. This XO tablet-based program is intended to combat social exclusion and to encourage individual empowerment amongst student users.

"The MoneyGram Foundation is a strong advocate for education worldwide and focuses on high-impact initiatives such as this one," said Anton Luttig, regional director for South and East Africa at MoneyGram. "We were especially intrigued and excited by the idea that each one of the 250 tablets distributed here today will be used and reused by so many deserving students, maximising the reach and impact of the donation."

The XO tablet that the OLPC Masibambane learning environment programme is centered on was developed by America's prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and features a 7.5-inch optical multi-touch display screen. It is loaded with an array of e-learning software that both enables and tracks each child's educational progress.

South African schools to develop ICT educational plans

"The fact that Masibambane itself developed an overarching ICT development plan is a key reason why we were attracted to this particular school," said Mark Kaplan, Executive Chairman of OLPC South Africa Foundation. "As of now, only a little over 6,000 of South Africa's more than 25,000 schools are ICT-enabled. If we are to conquer South Africa's growing digital divide, it is vital that more South African schools and their surrounding communities develop similar ICT educational plans and partner with sponsors like the MoneyGram Foundation and OPLC to bring that plan into action."

Along with Anton Luttig and Mark Kaplan, other attendees of the Masibambane donation event include Gabriel Wilson, senior marketing manager of South and East Africa at MoneyGram, Peter Mureu, Marketing Manager of South and East Africa, and other representatives of MoneyGram International and OLPC organisations - along with members of the local community, the Department of Basic Education, and technical advisor Pendula ICT.

For more information: http://one.laptop.org/