Editor,

In the same way that the Government of Rwanda (GoR) pioneered the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) programme, I think it would benefit Rwandan students if GoR would also pioneer a one Arduino [visit arduino.cc for more information] per child programme as well.

However, the major problem is not that the government wouldn’t do it; it’s much more complicated.

First, one major concern is that Rwandan teachers will not know what an Arduino (an open-source electronics platform based on easy-to-use hardware and software, Ed) is and much less how to use one. And how will they teach about it if they don’t know anything about it?

An Arduino could be complementary to the OLPC programme as they would allow students to learn electronics at a young age and pursue engineering later on in life and their OLPC laptops have everything they need to create small Arduino based projects.

Sal Equin

Reaction to the story, "Rwanda developers get training on robotics, hardware programming” (The New Times, October 19)