India Developes $35 Tablet To Bridge The Digital Divide

November 11, 2010 | One Comment

The government of India has unveiled a prototype of a touch screen, tablet computer which it expects to sell for $35 (Rs 1500 ₹) initially. It’s the effort of the Indian government to bridge the ever widening digital divide in the society. India is the nation that had been the biggest beneficiary of the digital age. It had taken the country’s image from a poor third world country to one that is in the forefront of economic, financial and technological growth. To sustain the benefits that the nation has reaped from the digital age and to take the nation to new heights its necessary to educate its huge population. The nation had already have more than 1000 schools throughout the country connected through the satellite (EDUSAT) and is expected to grow to 10,000 schools in the next couple of years.

EDUSAT aims to connect urban and rural educational institutions throughout India to provide a formal educational infrastructure and also to help spread knowledge about health and other related issues to more remote areas of the country. According to India’s Ministry of Education, of the nation’s 190 million children aged six to 14, only 150 million are in school. There is only one teacher per 71 students, and up to 87 percent of the students ultimately drop out of school. The satellite will enable distance education to take place throughout India by interfacing with video from each school. The satellite will be used for learning in many ways, such as beaming local language instruction programs to address illiteracy. The satellite also will be used in teacher training.

The next step is to provide the millions of poor children in the country with a means of tapping into the vast ocean of information; the internet. eLearning seems to be the way forward to educate and connect the huge population of students. The device is intended for use by students or low-income families, and could be rolled out at some educational institutions as early as next year. Students will be given a subsidy of Rs 750 (half the price).

Specifications

Resesistive Touch Screen
USB Port, Mini USB Port
Mini SD card slot
Headphone Jack
Camera (Front facing camera might be included in the final version)
Android OS