An Australian aboriginal school child works on a laptop computer as
part of the "One Laptop Per Child" program in Elcho Island May 27,
2009. Organisers behind the programme hope to combat the monotony of
island life with new-found interests such as
surfing
the net and offering the 1,200 school-age children opportunities to
learn of the world beyond the dense mangrove swaps that surround the
sea. Picture taken May 27, 2009.
Aboriginal Student gets a chance with this computerSOON after getting a green laptop distributed free to Aboriginal school
children in hopes of combating illiteracy and truancy, Jericho Lacey
learned his computer was good for more than just homework.
From
his home on Elcho Island, Australia, an impoverished tropical outpost,
Lacey writes school essays and occasionally plays "maze games" and
surfs the Internet.
"Hopefully, my children will become
digitally connected to the rest of the world," Jericho's father Marcus
said. "This island is not very close to anything."
In the
middle of the Arafura Sea and about 2,000 kilometers northwest of
Sydney, the former Methodist mission island is no paradise for its
inhabitants.
Peanut and banana farming was abandoned decades ago, leaving little or no work on the island for the 2,000 or so adults.
Alcohol
is banned to stem domestic violence and cars run on a type of petrol
that can't be inhaled after gasoline sniffing became a popular and
dangerous past-time for the island's youth. Pornography is also banned
on the island.
Organizers behind the program hope to combat
the monotony of island life with new-found interests such as online
surfing and offering the 1,200 school-age children opportunities to
learn of the world beyond the dense mangrove swamps that surround the
island.
Illiteracy underestimated
"We're trying to
give these kids a shot they might not otherwise get growing up here,"
said Barry Vercoe, who heads the Asia-Pacific arm of One Laptop Per
Child, an international charity he says has so far given away 1.5
million computers.
To date, about 2,000 laptops have been
delivered to three schools in indigenous communities in Australia,
where illiteracy can be multi-generational and English hardly, if ever,
spoken.
The charity was founded by Nicholas Negroponte, a
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher, and has given
computers to school-age children as far afield as Cambodia, Rwanda and
Papua New Guinea.
Through private donations and corporate
sponsorships Vercoe hopes to donate 400,000 computers in Australia over
the next two or three years, all to indigenous school children.
"When we have the opportunity to inoculate against ignorance and illiteracy we must take it,"
Barry Vercoe said.
Studies
indicate that illiteracy among Aboriginal children has long been
underestimated. A report by education ministers estimates one in three
indigenous third-grade students failed to meet a minimum reading
standard established by the government for all Australians.
Australia
is less than two years into a nationwide initiative to intervene in
communities heavily populated by Aboriginals, in some instances sending
in police and the army to enforce alcohol bans and conduct health
checks for children.
Designed by Chinese company Quanta and
manufactured in Shanghai,
Quanta Shanghai Manufacture City
(China/Shanghai)
each rugged XO computer costs US$185 and is
coated in thick rubber to withstand harsh conditions.
Gary
Barnes, an administrator from Australia's Northern Territory Department
of Education, said the arrival of computers on the island can help
teachers but is no cure-all.
Nonetheless, teacher Dianne Dickinson said: "Our students enjoy using them, which is a start."
NTN May 27, 2009: Students at Shepardson College on Elcho Island
(Approximately 550 km north-east of Darwin) received laptops under the
One Laptop Per Child Australia program. (R- L) Dannielle Lungurrwuy,
Kristy Bitika, Sheena Bawu. Published: Northern Territory News - May
28, 2009 Page: 004 Edition: 27may09 Keywords: Aboriginal
education/Computers Pic. Nicholas Welsh
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