Niue gives a child a laptop

The tiny island nation of Niue has become the first nation in the world to issue laptop computers to all of its children.

The programme involves giving every primary and secondary school student a rugged "relatively waterproof and breakproof" wireless connected One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) machine.

We are not talking a huge number of computers. The population of Niue is about 1,500 and no more than 500 are needed.

According to an OLPC press release the laptops are designed for primary school children aged six to 12 but have also been given to high school students in Niue, where the inhabitants have free Internet access.

The OLPC group hopes that the schools will install wireless servers that will enable pupils can access school study information and chat to each other in a radius of a half a mile without having to connect to the Internet.

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