Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Niue rejoins One Laptop Per Child scheme

Posted at 01:15 on 02 May, 2012 UTC

The regional director of One Laptop Per Child, or OLPC, says he believes a change in personnel in the Education Ministry in Niue is behind the island re-embracing the scheme.

Four years ago, Niue was the first country to receive enough of the laptops for every child of school age to have one.

But late last year the Education Ministry announced the island was pulling out of the scheme because the ongoing costs of the scheme were too great a burden.

OLPC is the non-profit organisation that builds and distributes the machines and its regional director, Michael Hutak, says Niue is now back on board.

“This is a change agent in a community and it can be challenging for some administrators to take on that challenge. There has been a new appointment, as I understand it, at the head of the Education Department for Niue and the secretary there has told me, in no uncertain terms, that she is committed to ensuring that OLPC survives in Niue.”