India rejects Negroponte's Laptops

I missed this bit of news last week.  From The Register:

India has decided against getting involved in Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child scheme - which aims to provide kids in developing countries with a simple $100 machine.

The success of the project depends on support, and big orders, from governments. The loss of such a potentially huge, and relatively technically sophisticated market, will be a serious blow.

The Indian Ministry of Education dismissed the laptop as "pedagogically suspect". Education Secretary Sudeep Banerjee said: "We cannot visualise a situation for decades when we can go beyone the pilot stage. We need classrooms and teachers more urgently than fancy tools."

Banerjee said if money were available it would be better spent on existing education plans.

Link: India rejects One Laptop Per Child | The Register.

Via Techdirt, who call the preference for classrooms and teachers over computers an "ideological stumbling block."

Update: More news this week -- the project now says they have orders for 4 million, from Thailand, Brazil, Argentina, and Nigeria.  When they have orders for 5 million they'll start production.  Link: One Laptop Per Child gains ground | The Register.