CEIBAL Project

The CEIBAL Plan is an initiative of the Office of the President of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay.  The aim is that, in 2009, every teacher and every pupil in the public schools should have a portable computer.  

This is the Uruguayan counterpart to the “One laptop per child” project, a nonprofit organization based in Delaware, created by professors at the MIT Multimedia Laboratory to design, manufacture, and distribute portable computers. The project was announced during the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, held by the ITU in Tunis, and presented by its cofounder, Nicholas Negroponte, in January 2006, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.  The countries involved in the project are seven at present: Argentina, Brazil, Nigeria, Libya, Pakistan, Thailand, and Uruguay.

The name “Ceibal” was chosen for the symbolic meaning to Uruguayans of the ceibo tree and its flower—the national flower of Uruguay. This was made into an acronym for Conectividad Educativa de Informática Básica para el Aprendizaje en Línea (Educational Connectivity to Basic Information Systems for Online Learning).  The project, approved by Decree 144/07, is part of the “Plan for inclusion in and access to the information and knowledge society,” which integrates the Government’s agenda, for application by the National Public Education Administration.

This is part of an effort by the country to promote social integration, providing opportunities to new generations in a vital area, education, through digital literacy programs and the promotion of participation in the information and knowledge society. The President of the Republic, at the launching of this project, established, inter alia, that "Our strategic objective is that all children have access to computer skills on an equitable basis.  This is a global project: globalization not only brings us problems; it also brings us very good things, and here we have one. We must salvage the positive aspects of globalization.”

The pilot plan began on Thursday, May 10, 2007, in Villa Cardal, in the Department of Florida: delivered there were the first 160 computers with Internet connections. The immediate effect was that school absenteeism dropped to almost zero. Every school level maintains a blog in which progress in the project is reported regularly. The enthusiasm of children and teachers is clear in each of their lines.

The public schools to be covered with the project number 2,355, with 304,940 students and 11,913 teachers in 2007. In total, 340,000 computers will be delivered over the established timeframe, which concludes at the end of 2009.

The CEIBAL project is directed by the Policy Commission, consisting of representatives of the Central Executive Council (CODICEN), the Primary Education Council, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Technological Laboratory of Uruguay (LATU), the National Telecommunications Administration (ANTEL), the Agency for the Information and Knowledge Society (AGESIC), and the Agency for Innovation (ANII). The educational aspects are developed by an Education Commission made up of representatives of CODICEN, the Primary Education Council, FUM, ATD, the Educational Connectivity Program, and the Ministry of Education and Culture.

The project’s executing agency is LATU, under which three programs are in charge of its execution:

• The Training Program handles effective training at all levels: initial teacher training in the pilot phase, general training of teachers at different phases of the project, and conducting activities according to established plans.

• The Logistics Program handles acquisitions of equipment and programs; distributes or hires out the distribution of all the components; organizes storage, replacement, and availability of parts for maintenance; and administers a help desk to address and solve problems related to its area of activity.

• The Technological Program covers equipment (hardware and software), networks, and communications. It handles equipment and program definition, technical tests, support definition, connectivity and everything needed in the way of technology infrastructure for the various phases of the project, and a help desk to address and solve problems related to its area.

LATU, in the context of its responsibility for the technical execution of the project, proceeded to purchase the corresponding equipment through international bidding.  In October 2007, the purchase of 100,000 XO by OLPC laptops and of 200 servers was awarded to the Brighstar firm; the cost of each machine was US$196. 

The computers’ principal characteristics are as follows. They weigh a kilo and a half, have 1Gb of RAM, have a removable flash disc, and are networked, which allows each student to connect from home or from school. They are capable, through a wireless mechanism for connection among laptops (mesh network), of seeking the nearest Internet access, regardless of the technology used to deliver it. They were designed to be sturdy enough to stand up to use by children. The device is small.  The screen can be turned around and closed for working in e-book mode: with the screen in view and without a keyboard, operated by a basic set of controls. It uses very little energy and can operate plugged into the electric network, or use a 12-hour battery, which can be charged manually with a crank that allows it to run for at least 10 minutes with 1 to 10 minutes of charging. The computers also contain an Internet navigator and a photographic and video camera. They also include games, a book reader, a calculator, messenger, and e-mail. They use the Linux operating system and include USB ports, allowing their connection to any type of device.

In addition to providing these computers free of charge, "Primary Education" will strictly monitor how the children develop in using them. The computers’ characteristics make it possible to work in various environments other than the classroom and open endless possibilities for instructional initiatives. The Pedagogical Project, designed by the Education Commission and reviewed and approved by the Primary Instruction officials, states that “introducing computers to the school does not mean merely learning to use a technological resource; it requires thought about how its integration into the classroom enhances learning—not only access to new knowledge but also the development of attitudes and skills, according to the pedagogical purpose. Information technology involves the integration of information into different symbolic platforms and new formats, different from the linearity of written text.  These technological formats for the expression and communication of culture do not replace those already in existence, but are added to and integrated into them, expanding their potential.” In particular, the attempt will be made to strengthen networked efforts, work on the Internet, and the use of the various tools offered by the software.

The connectivity is provided by ANTEL in the context of the Educational Connectivity Program, which predated the Ceibal Plan, with the aim of bringing the Internet to all schools and teacher training centers in the country.

Basic problems arise in remote rural areas not accessible to traditional ADSL. In some places, wireless edge-type cellular solutions have been installed; migration to the third generation will take place in the near future, in the context of a significant deployment of such technology throughout the country.  Priority is placed on the quality of service above any other consideration, since remote educational centers, regardless of how many pupils they have, should receive the same access as those in urban areas.

It is hoped that this will make Uruguay the first country in the Americas to provide universal access to information systems for school-age children.

At the end of March, Nicholas Negroponte – head of the “One computer per child” project--visited some of the schools in which the Ceibal Plan is implemented, after participating in the Innovation Forum of the Americas, held in Punta del Este, Uruguay.  At the Forum, it was announced that the project would be extended to secondary students and there would be a program of subsidies and loans for the purchase of computers by teachers and professors in both branches of learning. According to Negroponte, “Uruguay may be making history with this educational program. What we are ensuring is the children’s future.”

Ceibal Plan website: www.ceibal.edu.uy
Institutional video of the Project: http://olpc-ceibal.blogspot.com/2007/03/video-institucional-del-proyecto.html

ANTEL-Uruguay