Indian ministry frowns on Linux laptop plan
The Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development has disparaged an idea to improve education in developing countries by providing them with inexpensive Linux laptops.
According to a July report in the Times of India, the ministry is concerned that its children would be used for educational "experimentation."
Nicholas Negroponte founded an organization called One Laptop Per Child that's intended to improve education. Children would, to some extent, use the Internet-enabled computers to teach themselves.
The ministry argued that "implications of computer-based pedagogy for childhood have remained a grey zone of research," and wondered why the laptop initiative isn't being tried in the first world where computerization still isn't universal. The ministry also observed that in the United States, "the debate between those who believe computers to be good for children and those who have the opposite view has been quite polarized and shrill."
Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank. 
