Every pupil in Uruguay to be given laptop

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Deutsche Presse Agentur

Every pupil in Uruguay to be given laptop
Posted : Mon, 14 Sep 2009 20:59:17 GMT
Author : DPA

Montevideo - Every schoolchild in Uruguay is set to have a state-funded laptop computer by the end of this month. Programme coordinator Shirley Sirial confirmed Monday that the handout of the computers was close to completion. Over the past three years, about 400,000 laptops have been handed out to the children and teachers in 2,360 state primary schools around the country.

Thirty-three schools in the capital, Montevideo, would get their share by the end of the month, Siriel said six weeks before the presidential election scheduled for October 25.

The campaign was launched in 2006 by centre-left Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez and is set to have a total cost of about 120 million dollars.

In remote regions in the small South American country, however, there are problems with internet access.

"About 5,000 students still have no internet connection, but we will take care of the problem," said Miguel Brechner, president of Uruguay's Technological Laboratory.



Read more: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/285642,every-pupil-in-uruguay-to-be-given-laptop.html

[zeemike]

1. Boy will the right wingers go nuts over this one.

Socialism has come to Uraguay....
But that single government program means a hugh step in education....

[Peace Patriot]

8. Look at what the rightwing nuts have already said about this...

...further down in the article...

"The so-called XO-Laptops were developed by the US company One Laptop per Child and were designed to cater to the needs of school children. They are robust and light, although they have smaller memories than other laptops. Including tax, each of these laptops costs 230 dollars.

"Luis Alberto Lacalle, Uruguay's conservative presidential candidate, complained that many schools in the country remain in a disastrous state.

"'So much money is being spent on the laptops although people know that the toilets, the classrooms and the roofs of many schools need improvements,' he told the daily El Pais."

--from the OP

-------------------------

Like this shithead fascist is going to fix the toilets and the roofs in poor schools! Right. Like the Bushwhacks have done in this country, we can be sure that the fascists in Uruguay would steal everything in sight, if they were in charge. They would literally steal the food out of poor children's mouths. And the last thing in the world they want is an educated, tech savvy population, and good, publicly funded schools for all. Their thievery depends upon keeping people ignorant--here and there. So when is this jerkwad going to go do toilet cleaning duty in the broken down public school buildings? Never is when.

[Shanti Mama]

18. Empower the children

These kids can fix the toilets etc once they connect with all the information that's available on the net.

[zeemike]

21. you are right....ignorance is the goal. Hear and there. n/t

[Deja Q]

11. Why should they care if their tax dollars have nothing to do with this?

[nolabear]

2. B-b-but, their FREEDOM!

We can't have learning staring them right in the face while we sit here, free and unfettered, free to be ignorant and incapable, free to misspell and miscalculate and don't GET me started on how we're going to pull the plug on grammar!

[pattmarty]

3. Fucking communist, fascist, socialist, homosexual, abortionist, and.............

...........satan worshiper. What in the hell is he trying to do? Those kids won't turn out like the fine citizens here in the US that attended that heroic 9/12 march. They'll probably learn to spell correctly and god forbid, probably be able to find their country on a map. I sure hope that it doesn't spread to this country. Educated kids, instead of kids in jail? Next thing you know they'll be taking jesus out of schools. :sarcasm:

[immoderate]

4. Uruguay? They're a bunch of atheists!!

God bless 'em. :)

--imm

[pundaint]

5. Look what kind of stuff happens when you underfund the military

Next they'll probably get universal health care. Those poor unfortunates, they're just jealous because we're number 1! When will they get their priorities straight?

[Deja Q]

15. Yup, we can be #180 and the freepies will still think we're #1...

:eyes:

[Danmel]

6. We had 2 Uruguayan students stay with us

They are members of the Jose Artigas National Youth Orchestra in Montevideo. My 15 year old son plays in a local youth orchestra & we love to host young musicians from around the world. Uruguay has a phenomenal youth music program which gives poor young people extraordinary opportunities to travel & develop their not inconsiderable talent. We really enjoyed hosting them- they love what they do & were really a great group of kids. I'm not surprised the Uruguayan government would develop such a program

[Lagomorph]

7. Interesting

Ethnic groups 88% European, (Spanish, Italian, others), 6% Mestizo, 4% West African, 2% Asian, (Lebanese, Armenians, Chinese, Japanese, Turkish, Georgian

The Uruguayan Constitution allows citizens to repeal laws or to change the constitution by referendum. During the last 15 years the method has been used several times; to confirm a law renouncing prosecution of members of the military who violated human rights during the military regime (1973–1985), to stop privatization of public utilities companies, to defend pensioners' incomes, and to protect water resources.

Spanish is the official language of Uruguay and is spoken by almost all of the population. English is common in the business world though it is a minority language, as are French and Italian. Other languages include Portuguese and Portuñol, a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese. Both are present in northern regions near the Brazilian border.

[undeterred]

9. What if every person in our country were to be given health care?

Nah, it would never happen.

[atlgadem]

12. As long as it is every person in this country who...

.....is a citizen or here legally. Let the illegals go without. Breaking laws has consequences.

[Deja Q]

14. Not really. Half the people who make it to the top break either a legal law or an ethical one...

:shrug:

And many of them encourage people to break the laws too.

[surrealAmerican]

16. I guess you would favor denying health care to people who ...

... have committed other crimes too then.

Where does this sort of thinking end?

[undeterred]

17. It takes a really small person to sit around worrying

about whether somebody with a different color skin is gettin' more than their share.

I bet you never worry about whether the Healthcare CEOs who make $1B per year off other peoples insurance premiums are gettin' more than their share.

[Peace Patriot]

19. Deport Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove and Gonzales. Breaking laws has consequences.

And if you want to die, or want your loved ones to die, in epidemics from untreated illnesses among poor migrants, then you are a fool. Even from your own self-centered point of view, UNIVERSAL health care is essential. Medicine should make no distinctions among human beings, serving some and not others. That is just basic human decency, but it is also the best government policy for protection of public health.

And migrants don't slaughter hundreds of thousands of innocent people to steal their oil. How about we prosecute the really big criminals before picking on the very poor, who merely want to work to support their families.

[knixphan]

24. Not if your name is *

[Deja Q]

13. Or laptops or incentive for education or anything else...

then wonder why our kids, apparently, don't give a shit about being educated...

[Deja Q]

10. misread article and assumed something based on an earlier response from someone else

[The abyss]

20. Judi, thanks for posting.

I recall reading about this program a short while back. Good to see that they are in the final stages of implementation.

[Odin2005]

22. We need to do that here.

But that would never happen, it would piss off the textbook cartel.

[legin]

23. John Negroponte's brother ????

http://laptop.org/en/vision/mission/index.shtml

What have the u.s. to gain by the implementation of this policy ???
Keeping track of the great unwashed perhaps.

[Vidar]

25. Bravo Uruguay!