The laptop issue is ok. The cost however need to come much lower.
There are 1m std 1 kids in Kenya.
A kindle costs say kes 2,000 landed in Nairobi.

http://www.alibaba.com/p...indle_ebook_reader.html

Multiply 1m x kes 2,000=kes 2billion.
It will cost kes 2B to supply kindles. How is Govt getting their 53B?

a4a you are slowly sounding like someone who wants the contracts to come to Kenyans not solving the problem.

I'll tell you a story.

Some guy decided to setup a website to sell his products. So he went and hired the most expensive designer for his website.

Another fellow decided to setup a website but he didn't have any money. So he built his.

5 months later, guy A was not making any money, but guy B had got enough money from his website to build one just as expensive as guy A

8 months later guy A was very categorical saying that websites don't make money and Kenyans don't use the internet.

Guy B was too busy getting work that he had to hire others to do his work.

The problem was not the website. read laptop, Konza

The problem was that Guy B knew how to market and he only used his website as a tool to do whatever he does on the ground faster and more efficiently.

Guy A on the other hand thought that building a website, would solve ALL his problems.

The above are true stories and if you wish I can send you the data and the fellows can talk to you.

When guy A decided to invest in tech, he thought it would solve all his problems. But tech doesn't solve problems. People do. People can use tech to solve problems but tech will never solve a problem.

When the guys who came up with a laptop can explain in 3 sentences what problem they are trying to solve I will listen to them.

Thus far, these laptops are only meant to

1. make kenya look cool
2. pretend that we know algebra
3. prove a political statement

Exactly what education problem are laptops supposed to solve?

Just look at wazua. Grown men and women with access to laptops and you can see the standards of our discussions. Go to facebook, twitter etc

Just because a fellow has a laptop, does not make him sharp.

But true education does and always will.

@a4

I have no doubt in my mind that a child of 5 years can make anything he wishes to. But there has to be an education first.

I can promise you and even bet you that this kid did not build this because he had a laptop. But because he learned about solar energy and the basics of electricity.

Just like the young Kenyan lad who's sold his motor bike to build his helicopter.

You should listen to the guy talk about capacitors.

He doesn't have a laptop.

Education is the key and there is no way around it. I have lived with some neighbours who's kids are actually developing these ps3 games. They are 14 years old.

But I can assure you, it was not the computer. When the kids take a pen to paper and you dwell on a mathematical equation, you then realise that the homeschooling their parents did was not in vain.

Laptops make Kenyans feel horny.

I'll repeat.

The word computer and Laptop makes a Kenyan feel horny as hell.

The problem is that his mind is shitty. He only uses his laptop to go to online brothels.

Let's get the education standards back to where they were. It's that simple. So that when you give your child a laptop, he's using it to make that kind of transistor not watching porn, going to mashada and poking people on facebook.

A standard one pupil will have the drive and determination to get himself out of poverty ? Do you actually believe this stuff or are you just desperate to justify anything jubilee does ?

Swali tu.

Please think critically. Theres no doubt that standard one kids like lap tops just like any other toys.

But creativeness and determination is born out of desperation. Most standard one kids don't even have a concept of what poverty is. The chance that a standard one kid will get himself out of poverty because of these lap tops is as good as a snowballs chance in hell. Its virtually zero.

They said the aim was to expose kids to computers early and possibly get them interested in technology. Whatever they meant by technology. In my own assessment, the program is not SMART- How will the program proceed to make any of the kids become the local Steve Jobs? I know not of any country that was developed by groping in the dark / by programmes whose impact is immeasurable at the start. To develop a country, you must clearly see the end from the beginning, and know the means to get there. How useful is a computer without internet and a printer? Who will give these kids money to pay for air time so they can access internet? How many kids entering class one today translate into high school and University? How many kids in class eight today can speak fluent English?
If we must take laptops to basic schools, it would be better to build one computer lab per school, equip with say 20-30 laptops or so which can be used by every grade. A kid need not more than one ‘computer’ lesson per week. What will a kid who can’t write a composition use computer for 24-7?