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Since the final batch of XO laptops were delivered on October 13, it is now official: Every last pupil in Uruguay’s primary school system now has a portable green and white laptop and a growing love for the free operating system, Linux.

When the teachers were asked if they were having any problems with the laptops one replied, “we can’t get the kids to leave the school. They hang around here all day long. Is there anything you can do to get them to go home?”

Over the last two years 362,000 Uruguayan pupils and 18,000 teachers became part of the One Laptop Per Child project, an organization set up by internet pioneer Nicholas Negroponte with his vision of providing $100 laptops.

2014 UPDATE: A study this year shows no increase in test scores for Uruguay’s children in years following the laptop distributions. A link to the paper is here.

(Original story from the BBC)

 

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