OLPC Project to Raise Academic Standards of Nigerian Students

If there had been any vital initiative for education taken on behalf of the Nigerian government, it’s the ‘One Laptop Per Child’ (OLPC) project. It was in March 2007 when the OLPC Foundation came up with XO laptops and distributed them to the children of Nigeria’s Galadima Primary School of the 4^th, 5^th and 6^th standard. These XO laptops were asked to be carried from home to school on a daily basis by each and every child. Indubitably, they served well in the context of Nigerian education from March to December 2007.

One Laptop Per Child (Photo credit: MsLiberty)

Owing to this amazing initiative, the teachers employed in the school took opportunities to develop their class activities. The intention of the teachers was to:

• Set goals that can stand compatible with those set in the public schools
• They wanted to bring changes in the educational programs so that students can keep gaining knowledge and update themselves with time
• By bringing developments in the learning modes, they aimed to transform all those passive learners into active constructionists who will be able to investigate, collaborate and create solutions for all sorts of issues.
• By collaborating with each other and having discussions about their activities, teachers can also lead to good teamwork which will further help them to train students.

Revised OLPC Project was ready to undertake

Professor Ruqayyatu Rufai, the education minister of Nigeria came up with a declaration that the One Laptop Per Child Project has undergone modifications and is therefore in progress to undertake both at the state and federal levels. The announcement was made at the World Forum on Education in London. It was even heard that nearly one million laptops were procured under the leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo with the intention to promote Information and Communications Technology (ICT) amongstudents in Nigeria.

OLPC proved wrong, yet hopes were still alive

It was just a year later that the education experts declared the OLPC project to be faulty. They were not able to catch the significance of the set objectives of the project. As a result, they asked the OLPC proponents to conduct thorough reviews as soon as possible.

Mr. Rufai firmly asserted that the project was looking quite active and didn’t collapse. In fact, the government was constantly encouraging several ways of implementing ICT in schools. For instance, the Ministry of Information Technology and the Education Ministry provided laptops to different schools from time to time.

one laptop per child! note the CC sticker (Photo credit: laihiu)

OLPC on the path of progress

According to the education minister, it was really not possible to get laptops to each and every student. However, constant efforts were put to deliver laptops to students as many as possible. In fact, he was quite enthusiastic from the immense success achieved in the girl child education. Rufai seemed to be confident that they were gradually moving towards making the OLPC project a big success among students. He said enthusiastically that Nigeria is gradually progressing to give rise to a bunch of smart learners.

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