History

Although OLPC as a global initiative is relatively recent, the idea behind it has been evolving for decades. Educators, technologists, and visionaries have long imagined putting the right kind of technology directly into the hands of children — especially those in remote and underserved communities.

Under the leadership of Nicholas Negroponte and pioneers such as Seymour Papert, this vision gradually transformed from early experiments with computers in schools to the bold concept of a low-cost learning device for every child.

Our Journey So Far

Children and Technology

1982 – 2002

The idea of bringing technology to children in developing countries is not new. In 1982, Nicholas Negroponte and Seymour Papert took Apple II computers to primary school children in Dakar, Senegal, exploring how computing could transform learning.

Soon after, Negroponte founded the MIT Media Lab with Jerome Wiesner. At the Lab, Papert created “The School of the Future”, bringing computers into schools in Massachusetts where children learned to program in Logo — not just using software, but creating it.

In 1988, LEGO/Logo became commercially available, enabling children to program their own robots. A decade later, LEGO released Mindstorms, making constructionist learning more accessible to young learners worldwide.

In 2002, Negroponte brought laptops with internet connections to a small village in Cambodia. The children and their families quickly discovered many uses for the machines and taught themselves to navigate the Internet. Around the same time, Papert persuaded the Governor of Maine that a one-to-one student-device ratio was essential, leading to the distribution of 42,000 laptops to seventh-graders across the state.

Conception of the $100 Laptop

2005 – Onward

In early 2005, drawing on years of experience with laptops in schools and villages, Negroponte articulated the bold idea of a $100 laptop — a rugged, connected, child-centered learning device for every child.

He presented this vision at the World Economic Forum, where it was enthusiastically received. The New York Times described him as the “Johnny Appleseed of the digital era”, reflecting the ambition to seed educational technology around the world.

The concept quickly gained momentum, attracting support from major partners including AMD, News Corp., Google, Red Hat, Quanta Computer, and Nortel. By the end of 2005, Negroponte had engaged with more than 50 countries, and several early adopters had already come forward — among them President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, who committed to one million units.

This global effort evolved into the One Laptop per Child initiative, and eventually into localized chapters such as OLPC India, focused on ensuring that children across India have access to tools that help them learn, create, and participate in a connected world.