Maharashtra: For Walter Bender, co-founder of the One Laptop Per Child initiative, watching 20 children display great familiarity and skills with their XO laptops at a primary school in rural Maharashtra in western India was a proud moment.

These laptops had been designed for children aged 6-12 years and Bender had added the "Sugar" interface that makes these machines easy for their use. The laptops were then given to children of a school in this village in Raigad district four years ago.

In no time, the children learned the ropes. They can now make their own music, create an animated dance sequence and use it to aid schoolwork.

Bender was the co-founder of the laptop initiative that began in 2006 and after leaving it in 2008, he founded Sugar Labs to continue the development of this particular interface.

Now on a trip to India to assess the impact the interface was having in rural schools, he said there was greater need for its promotion. The laptops have not reached too many rural schools yet, he found.

"Most people, including government officials, who hear about the unique XO laptops and Sugar interface, get excited about it. But there is hardly anyone who has shown interest in actually pushing the initiative," Bender said.

"We are looking at a public-private-partnership model to penetrate the rural market."

Bender was all appreciation for the efforts of two teachers of the Khairat-Dangarwada Jilla Parishad Prathmik Shala, the school in Raigad district that has been using the interface for four years now.

Asked about his special focus on the rural school, he said there were several learning tools available for urban children, but rural kids needed more resources.

"Along with rural kids, we plan to target the urban poor. At a tender age, all children are smart, they only need the resources; and rural children lack those."

Bender explained that he had met with greater success in the use of the interface in other parts of the world. "We have not been able to do in India what has happened more effectively in Galadima (Nigeria), Uruguay and Peru," he said.