2007 Press Releases
Iraq’s Schoolchildren Get Computers with U.S. Help
PRT to offer 200 laptops to local kids in Muthanna
By Barry Greenberg, State Department Special Correspondent
December 17, 2007
Tallil, Iraq. The Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Muthanna Province has joined forces with an American non-profit organization, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC), to provide more than 200 laptop computers to schoolchildren. The first batch of laptops should arrive in Iraq in early 2008 and be distributed shortly thereafter.
“It’s about doing the most good for the greatest number of people,” said PRT team leader Paul O’Friel, and “these kid-friendly laptops have a real potential to change people’s lives.”
O’Friel, along with the PRT’s IT expert John Meenan, recently visited two schools in the province to demonstrate a model of the computer. They left some pretty excited kids in their wake. “These girls couldn’t get enough of it,” said Meenan after extricating himself from a group of fourth and fifth graders who crowded around him for a peek at the screen and a few touches on the Arabic-language keyboard. “I’ve never met such an animated group of Iraqi kids who weren’t chasing after a soccer ball.”
PRT deputy team leader Kevin Crisp recently attended a workshop at OLPC headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He believes the program will be “a fantastic step forward for many children around the world, especially in developing countries like Iraq.” In addition to engaging Iraqi schoolchildren Mr. Crisp noted that the successful rollout of a laptop program in Muthanna could revolutionize the educational system in the province.
Overall, educational needs in Muthanna are great, said PRT leader O’Friel. The United Nations has ranked it 18th out of Iraq's 18 provinces in terms of standards of development. But he added U.S. Government resources like the $125 million Quick Response Fund (QRF) provided to PRTs targeting basic human needs, including schools, has been a big help.
While recently meeting with leaders of the Bani Zraige tribe, O’Friel said one sheikh identified a critical need: reconstructing a mud brick primary school serving a poor rural community near the town of Najmi. A survey of the site confirmed the requirement.
“We quickly embraced the reconstruction proposal and took it one step further,” the team leader said. “We decided we would transform the school into a modern four classroom building, install solar power panels, and provide computers. When we thought of computers we thought why not introduce the innovative One Laptop per Child computers, which have been especially designed for the developing world?”
The robust computers are solar powered and heat and dust resistant, O’Friel explained. They have innovative educational software designed to teach children how to use computers, and best of all, they come in Arabic-language models.
After a phone conversation with One Laptop President Walter Bender, O’Friel said, “he immediately sent us two Beta-version Arabic language computers for testing and evaluation and offered us slots in his training programs.” Team Deputy Kevin Crisp is currently in Boston for training in conjunction with his home leave and two other team members will follow, he added.
The computer program is turning out to be such a success that O’Friel said “We have now expanded the One Laptop concept to a series of model schools that we will rebuild throughout the provinces. Projects include an orphanage and an all-girl's school. Each will have 10-20 of the $200 computers and will be "twined" with a counter-part U.S. elementary school to encourage interaction and ties between Iraqi and American children.”