Internet Evolution - Rob Salkowitz - Schoolkid Laptops: How Portugal's Doing It Right - 0 views
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In June, Portugal completed the major phase of the largest deployment of laptops for education in the world to date, equipping nearly a million secondary school students throughout the entire country with high-performance computers and mobile Internet connectivity.
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The government authorized the use of the 3G auction proceeds to subsidize the distribution of nearly a million laptops before the end of the decade. This pleased the telecom providers, because it amounted to a direct investment in market development: All those students and their families would become mobile broadband customers.
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it instantly leapfrogged the country’s education system to the forefront of the global effort to integrate the Internet into the classroom, and it promised a quantum leap forward for the country’s next generation of citizens, workers, and leaders.
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With the subsidies, the end-cost to students’ families is only €50 to €150 for laptops that would otherwise sell for more than four times that amount. Qualified low-income families receive theirs for free. The Escola computers come with a one-year mobile broadband contract for €17 a month (discounted from the normal €23), and other plans are negotiable depending on the providers.
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“It is most important to have scale,” says Grilo. “It can’t be just a pilot project confined to a small community. It must be everyone at once. That way, you have maximum cultural impact. Everyone feels part of the mainstream, not an anomaly or a test subject.”
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Perhaps the most important lesson for countries seeking to emulate Portugal’s success is to design a policy that aligns the interests of all the major stakeholders: telecom providers, local OEMs, multinational partners, government ministries, local communities, schools, and the public.