Thai education ministry ‘tablets’ a bright future: Bringing equality to classrooms

[webfact]

 

The Thai Education Ministry is set to revive a decade-old initiative, which was originally launched by a previous Pheu Thai government, to distribute a tablet computer to each student and teacher across the country. This initiative aims to promote equal educational opportunities.

 

The announcement was made yesterday by Education Minister Permpoon Chidchob and his deputy Surasak Phancharoenworakul, both members of the Bhumjaithai Party in the Pheu Thai-led coalition. During a gathering of ministry officials, their stated goal was to endorse good learning, with happiness.

 

Permpoon revealed that every student would be granted a tablet computer to lessen their expenses and diminish disparities in educational opportunities under the one student, one tablet scheme. He added that he was currently evaluating the total cost of the scheme, suggesting that if the current budget was not adequate, tablets could be obtained through borrowing or renting.

However, A previous Democrat Party MP, Suchatvee Suwansawat expressed his concern about the programme to the Bangkok Post. While he concurred with the use of modern technology to assist learning and minimise educational inequality, he was hesitant about the scheme.

 

by Atima Homtienton

Picture courtesy of Tony Education.

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2023-09-15

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe

[bamnutsak]

Not sure this would actually harm the already essentially dead Thai education system?

 

Almost any activity, including playing games, might be better than the rote learning of the numbers 1 to 10.

 

 

 

 

[2baht]

The definition of insanity, trying the same thing over again and expecting a different result!

[Pouatchee]

utter waste of good money. ten years ago i was teaching wehen they tried to implement this crap. problem is the curriculum is not designed for this and changing the curriculum will end up costing way more. the kids arew distracted enough as it is they don't need another toy.

 

they spend enough time on their phones now they will just spend most of their time doing nothing.

[seajae]

just like last time they did this, the only ones that benefited were the ones that sold garbage tablets that were totally useless cheap rip offs at a huge profit and the ministers/higher ups that pocketed all the graft from buying them, seems to be the only way pheu thai can run govt,  by  getting graft the same way their leader did when he was in charge

[stoner]

can someone explain the witty headline pun to me. excuse my table manners. 

[bamnutsak]

13 minutes ago, 2baht said:

The definition of insanity, trying the same thing over again and expecting a different result!

 

Really?

 

You mean give up after one try? We might not make any progress.

 

Don't we all learn from making mistakes?

 

 

 

 

[pedro01]

24 minutes ago, 2baht said:

The definition of insanity, trying the same thing over again and expecting a different result!

I was going to say - they tried this already during Thaksin's reign didn't they? And they turned out to be a pile of crapola.

[Tropicalevo]

Spend, spend, spend. We can see the new governments policies already.

[2baht]

3 minutes ago, pedro01 said:

I was going to say - they tried this already during Thaksin's reign didn't they? And they turned out to be a pile of crapola.

It was a lady whose first name begins with Y!

[nikmar]

40 minutes ago, webfact said:

This initiative aims to promote equal educational opportunities.

How , exactly??

[pedro01]

6 minutes ago, 2baht said:

It was a lady whose first name begins with Y!

yeah - that's what I meant - when Thaksin was in charge ????

[fondue zoo]

Who gets the contract?

[connda]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

The Thai Education Ministry is set to revive a decade-old initiative, which was originally launched by a previous Pheu Thai government, to distribute a tablet computer to each student and teacher across the country. This initiative aims to promote equal educational opportunities.

 

Of course, in the name of "equity" the "scheme" will be rolled out to Bangkok schools first to assess how it works, after which the tablets will 'trickle down' to the rural schools sometime in the next decade or so.  And my guess is that the average life-span of classroom "tablets" will be measured in months as the contracts will be given to "connected friends" who will supply cheap, poorly-made, poor-quality, errrr... top-of-the-line tablets for the kiddies to use.  This reeks of a scheme to manufacture money-making opportunities for those with connections to the present batch of bureaucrats. It will be poorly thought out, planned, and implemented.  A tablet without a coordinated, comprehensive, integrated, well-planned and tested digital curriculum is simply so much plastic, silicon, and solder that will quickly fall into disrepair.
 

Edited September 15, 2023 by connda

[Emdog]

1 hour ago, 2baht said:

The definition of insanity, trying the same thing over again and expecting a different result!

The "result" the powers that be hoped for (and got) last time was massive kick backs on junk tablets

The current proponents are no doubt hoping for a similar result.

Learning has little to nothing to do with the scheme

BTW love the photo: students looking at books, not tablets...

[DavisH]

1 hour ago, bamnutsak said:

Not sure this would actually harm the already essentially dead Thai education system?

 

Almost any activity, including playing games, might be better than the rote learning of the numbers 1 to 10.

 

 

 

 

How do you not rote learn the numbers 1 to 10? 

[DavisH]

Just make sure they DONT have internet access! Imagine having to patrol a class of 60 students just to check they are actually working and not on tiktok, IG or chatting / passing answers to other students on Line. 

[Tarteso]

???????????? 

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

The Thai Education Ministry is set to revive a decade-old initiative, which was originally launched by a previous Pheu Thai government, to distribute a tablet computer to each student and teacher across the country. This initiative aims to promote equal educational opportunities

A nice little earner for someone?

[Hanuman2547]

It all sounds like a good idea but are the teachers and administrators capable of teaching using this type of technology?  

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, bamnutsak said:

Not sure this would actually harm the already essentially dead Thai education system?

 

Almost any activity, including playing games, might be better than the rote learning of the numbers 1 to 10.

 

 

 

 

They can't even learn 1-10 in English

I have a friends daughter aged 15 who cannot tell the time in English, her father asked me to help.

She said she didn't understand English time, I said the clock is universal around the world. ie 12/24 hour time

I told her to think of the time in Thai and just convert the numbers to English..

the almost blank stare came back as she counted on her fingers one-to-eleven for eleven O'Clock.

[damian]

Well thats it then.

 

The new MoE has done his job and reformed Thai education. 

 

And made a little on the side. 

 

Won't need to do anything else for the next 4 years. Well done son.

 

Pathetic, really pathetic.

[Ralf001]

cool, some cheap tablets at the local pawn shop soon then !!

[pookett]

Very similar happened in the country my kids were educated.

In this case it was notebooks of very poor quality and massively out of date given to all secondary level students.

The notebooks were never used in class, were too old tech to run the school programmes properly and only worth a fraction of the cost to the education department.

Again, some connected people made a killing.

 

I'd bet that most kids phones would be more capable than any tablet offered. In regions were it is common for children not to have phones due to poverty, I doubt they will ever see these "equal-opportunity" devices.

Edited September 15, 2023 by pookett

[spidermike007]

No. Educational standards here have to change. To begin with, they have to start encouraging the students to question the teachers, developing curiosity in the process. Any teacher who has a hard time being questioned, is hiding something.

 

By international standards, the two top universities in Thailand are Mahidol and Chulalongkorn. World University Rankings created by Times Higher Education takes into account the reputation of research done by universities and how often papers produced by universities were quoted around the world. They have Mahidol ranked at #610, and Chulalongkorn ranked at #801, worldwide. That is the best this nation is capable of. Shows you how important education is to the elite (who send their kids overseas for college) and this spectacularly toxic administration. I know this thread is primarily about grade school, but I doubt there are international rankings for that.

 

Also, University used to serve a vital function. These days, that is not necessarily the case. Unless one graduates with a medical degree, medical tech, nursing, an MBA from a top 20 school, or a degree in engineering, the prospects are not what they used to be. And the debt can be outrageous. College seems to be a racket these days. Big business. And who wins in the end? The university. Vocational school, or specialized training, may have more application, in this world.

[J Branche]

Gave a slightly older tablet to Girlfriends, daughters, son.  He likes it.  Says it is so much better for playing video games then his old phone.  When he stays with us I do make him use some learning and math apps for 15 minutes a day.

[kingstonkid]

2 hours ago, Pouatchee said:

utter waste of good money. ten years ago i was teaching wehen they tried to implement this crap. problem is the curriculum is not designed for this and changing the curriculum will end up costing way more. the kids arew distracted enough as it is they don't need another toy.

 

they spend enough time on their phones now they will just spend most of their time doing nothing.

Agreed.  The other problem is that many students already have ipad and that is theain toy in uni

 

 

[Zack61]

2 hours ago, 2baht said:

The definition of insanity, trying the same thing over again and expecting a different result!

And be mindful of the fact that the last government to do this was ousted by the military 

[shackleton]

This will be a complete waste of money

Most students have mobile phones they probably use at school ????

what age group are they targeting for these tablet computers ????

[wombat]

remind me what happened last time this was headlines please