Does Providing Laptops Improve Educational Outcomes?
The One Laptop Per Child program was supposed to bridge the digital divide for children in developing countries.
To assess the long-term effects of the program, one study performed
a large-scale randomized evaluation of the OLPC program implemented by the Peruvian government in rural primary schools, using administrative and survey data from 2007 to 2019.
The study found that the program had
no effects on students’ exam or test scores or on their likelihood of completing primary or secondary school or enrolling in a university… [T]he program [also] reduced the fraction of primary students who advanced to the next grade by 1 percentage point between 2009 and 2016.
Despite lengthy teacher trainings,
the program had no significant effects on teachers’ digital skills … [and it] led to limited academic use of laptops and generated few benefits beyond basic digital literacy, which partly explains the absence of effects on achievement and attainment.
Many of us in tech fought this from the beginning because it was argued as a solution to close the digital divide (the gap that exists between people experienced and not, with technology).
We screamed don't! Someone having a laptop doesn't make them a software engineer.
Then schools pulled the same crap with smartphones... Clearly pushed by Tech lobbies, sales pitches, and politicians who got campaign controbutions to get schools to use Apps and SaaS, schools then moved on to everyone needing a Tablet.
We screamed again, don't!!
They didn't care. Putting tech in schools is a politically safe proposal. It sounds right. Plus, then they can see test scores, eliminate educator labor, and aggregate data.
Laptops and tablets in schools were NEVER about education unless you a population educated to USE tech and CONSUME more online. Oh, would you look at that, *that* worked.
It also led to online bullying, cheating, using AI, screen addition, and social media dopamine hits
Tech for rech sake led to the dumbing down of a generation. It needs to be ripped out. Put it in place FOR the kids who create with it: video, code, design.
Would you agree that the emphasis on digital resources has been a huge net negative (https://fortune.com/2026/02/21/laptops-tablets-schools-gen-z-less-cognitively-capable-parents-first-time-cellphone-bans-standardized-test-scores/)?