Teaching with tablets: thanks to computer tablets, kids in two villages in Ethiopia are getting their first chance at an education.

• Author: McCann, Samantha
• Position: Cover story

A boy leans over, focusing closely on the object in his hands. A screen lights up his face. It is one of the only lights around for many miles. Kelbesa Negusse, 8, is playing with a computer tablet.

Kelbesa lives in a small remote village in Ethiopia, a country in East Africa. The village, called Wenchi (WON-chee), doesn't have electricity, and villagers live in huts made of mud and straw.

Only a year ago, Kelbesa had never heard of a computer. He had never even seen a word written down on paper. But today, thanks to his tablet, he can write the full English alphabet and read several English words.

"I love the tablet," Kelbesa told Scholastic News in Oromo, his native language. "I can't imagine my life without [it]."

Wenchi doesn't have a school. A U.S.-based organization called One Laptop per Child (OLPC) didn't want that to stop the kids from learning. The group is finding new ways for kids like Kelbesa to get an education--with the help of technology.

Without an Education

Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Millions of Ethiopians survive on less than $2 a day.

In Wenchi, kids do chores like herding sheep and cooking for their families instead of going to school. Poor villages like these don't have money to build schools or pay teachers. Often, the nearest school is hours away.

About 70 million kids worldwide don't have access to schools. Most of them are illiterate, meaning they can't read or write. People who lack these basic skills often can't find jobs that pay well or any job at all.

Quick Learners

Since 2005, OLPC has been providing low-cost laptops and tablets to poor children around the world. It loads the computers with programs designed to engage kids and help them learn on their own.

Last year, OLPC put hundreds of educational apps, books, and videos onto 41 computer tablets, then dropped them off in Wenchi and another village in Ethiopia. The group wanted to see how much kids could learn without any help from adults.

The kids in the villages were given no instructions on what the tablets were or how to use them. Officials at OLPC expected the kids to learn to use the tablets on their own, but they were surprised by just how quickly the kids caught on.

Within minutes, the kids had figured out how to turn on the tablets. By the end of the first week, they could use dozens of the apps. Some kids even figured out how to turn on the camera, which OLPC had disabled. Today, Kelbesa records and edits videos using...