ICT4D, Gender Divides, and Education: The Case of OLPC in Ghana

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Abstract

In this digital era, there is increased emphasis on new ICTs to
modernize the South; and in 2003 and 2005 the World Summit on
Information Society (WSIS) pressed developing countries to create
policies for universal access. MIT and Nicholas Negroponte’s One
Laptop per Child (OLPC) project aims to make low cost computers
accessible to the “world’s poorest children,” presuming that the
gadgets will support their empowerment via education. The project’s
success globally, however, has been mixed at best, with many countries
terminating their purchases due to cost, inadequate infrastructure,
and negative side effects. In October 2010 Ghana suspended the
country’s three-year participation. This study examines the complex
history and failure of OLPC Ghana in two pilot schools, one urban and
one rural, with particular attention to gender bias. The analysis
draws on interviews with children in the pilot classes, teachers
involved and government personnel. In the rural community, UNDP’s
Millennium Villages Project, though also problematic in many ways,
played a strong support role, making OLPC somewhat more effective and
less gender divided in the rural school lacking electrical power than
in the urban school in Accra. Both pilot schools faced severe
sustainability challenges raising decades-old questions about
modernity and technological determinism. Further, in both schools a
strong digital divide by gender was evident due to norms around
leisure time, as well as gendered content and norms regarding cafés.

Author

• Leslie Steeves, U of Oregon