XO laptop from OLPC

• The test phase began in April 2008 and ended in March 2009. During this time, OLE Nepal implemented the project in two rural test schools in Lalitpur district selected by the DoE: Bishwamitra Ganesh Secondary School and Bashuki Lower Secondary School.
• A total of 135 students and 22 teachers in these schools were using laptops and digital learning materials in the regular classroom instruction process during this phase. 
• Progress was closely monitored, the proximity of the schools to our office facilitated close observation and evaluation.

Phase II

• In the second phase of the project (April 2009 to March 2010), the pilot was expanded to 26 schools in six districts (Dadeldhura, Kapilvastu, Kavre, Lalitpur, Makwanpur and Mustang). After the completion of the pilot, it is expected that the OLPC project will expand across the entire country in a phase-wise manner. 
• The districts, regions, funding partners and number of schools for each district are as follows:
• Dadeldhura, Far Western Hills, UN World Food Program, 3 schools
• Kapilvastu, Western Terai, Danish Embassy- Local Grant Authority, 3 schools
• Mustang, Western Mountains, Government of Nepal through DDF, 7 schools
• Makwanpur, Mid Hills, Government of Nepal through DDF, 5 schools
• Kavre, Mid Hills, Danish Embassy- Local Grant Authority, 3 schools
• Lalitpur, Mid Hills, Danish Embassy- Local Grant Authority, 5 schools

Children using XO laptops at their home, Dadeldhura
• Phase II of the pilot builds upon the knowledge gained from the test phase and includes pilot schools representing different geographical and socio-economic conditions of the country. Like the test phase, this pilot phase too is useful for gaining experience in project implementation—in fact, it allows the implementers to better understand implementation challenges (including in the area of logistics) in different settings. But an equally important goal of the phase II pilot is to evaluate the relevance of the project concept itself under the assumption that the pilot has been implemented as planned. Thus the evaluation in the pilot phase focuses on the impact of OLPC concept on the learning outcomes of the students in the short run. 
• Laptops for pilot phase II were donated to OLE Nepal by SWIFT Banking Group in Europe through the OLPC Foundation. A total of 4400 laptops were received for the program in Nepal. The donation demonstrates the interest that the program in Nepal is generating in the global OLPC community.
• OLE Nepal deployed the project in various districts with the help of DEO, DoE, and partner organizations. Since OLE Nepal's long term goal is to integrate ICT based teaching-learning method into Nepal's education system, it was important that we involved the resources available in the system so that they got ample opportunities to learn about implementing this type of program and gives them a sense of ownership of the project as well.