One-Kindle-Per-Child Program

In May, I wrote about One Laptop per Child, and last Friday, a co-worker of mine showed me this article from The Wall Street Journal. Former Amazon senior vice president, David Risher, co-founded Worldreader which created the One-Kindle-Per-Child Program. Guess where they have chosen to test the program. GHANA!

When I taught in Ghana, the lack of books was one of our major challenges. Ghana’s capital city, Accra, did have bookstores with a decent number of book options, but they still would not have the selection we have in most American cities. The other cities in Ghana that I visited had a bookstore or bookstand, but the options were very limited. The selection was similar to what we could expect if we bought all of our books at thrift stores and garage sales. As anyone could guess, it is extremely difficult to get kids excited about reading when all of the book options are secondhand, random selections with content that usually is not relevant to young people. I am excited to see how this program plays out. I firmly believe programs such as this one is the best way to provide kids with the opportunities they need to take control of their future no matter where they live.