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Good practice

Una Computadora por Niño - Caacupe Digital City (Paraguay Educa)

Paraguay · Caacupe · See the Paraguay profile

Since 2009, NGO Paraguay Educa has given OLPC XO laptops and connectivity to all 35 public schools in Caacupe, becoming national policy in 2015 - though independent research found most laptops were used for media consumption, not creation, and broke within five years.

~4,000
Initial OLPC devices distributed (2009)
35
Public/subsidised schools covered in Caacupé district
11
Professional team running the programme under the 2017 tender (2017)
Una Computadora por Niño - Caacupe Digital City (Paraguay Educa)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Fundacion Paraguay Educa
Period
2009-2020
Keywords
digital inclusion, education technology, one-to-one computing, teacher training, community connectivity

Context

Fundación Paraguay Educa launched 'Una Computadora por Niño' in Caacupé in 2009 with roughly 4,000 One Laptop per Child devices, expanding via IDB and ITAIPU Binacional funding to all 35 public/subsidised schools in the district; it became official Ministry of Education and Culture policy in 2015.

Results

An independent multi-year ethnographic study by researcher Morgan Ames ('The Charisma Machine') found that most students used the XO laptops mainly for media consumption rather than the creative programming tools (Scratch, eToys, Turtle Art) they were designed to showcase, and that the devices — marketed as rugged — broke easily, with most units unusable within five years, requiring Paraguay Educa to retrofit infrastructure and invest in teacher training beyond the original OLPC budget.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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