Thai Education Ministry pushes ahead with tablet project despite budget cuts

[snoop1130]

 

Despite a budget cut from 16 billion to 13 billion baht, Thailand's Education Ministry is still pushing ahead with its ambitious plan to provide tablets for students. Assistant to the Education Minister, Siripong Angkasakulkiat, confirmed the ministry's commitment to the project.

 

The project is a part of a larger strategy called "One District, One Quality School" led by the Education Minister, Police General Permpoon Chidchob. The goal of this initiative is to pull together all educational resources, both physical and digital, for each district's schools. Siripong assured that the plan will continue and the ministry will allocate funding to support teachers and give schools updated technology.

 

The ministry plans to distribute tablets to students in Secondary 4 to 6 in 1,808 schools and is currently looking for contractors to create the needed platform and educational content. The budget will fund a five-year lease for 600,000 tablets, costing 400 baht each, including internet access.

 

 

The project, currently under review for the 2025 budget allocation, had its funds lowered from the original 16 billion baht to 13 billion baht. The ministry is considering registering small and medium-sized schools to the program, with 1,808 district high schools already signed up.

 

The main goal of the tablet distribution project is to make learning more flexible by giving more than 600,000 tablets to students and teachers, as well as aiding in the creation of accessible educational materials. Last month, the ministry predicted that the total cost for the program, running from 2025 to 2029 and covering 29,312 schools, would be around 22 billion baht.

 

This initiative has drawn comparisons to the previous "One Tablet, One Student" project under the administration of Yingluck Shinawatra. Before the 2014 coup, Yingluck's government had plans to buy or lease over 2.5 million tablets for students across the country, with a total budget of 12 billion baht.

 

File photo for reference only

 

-- 2024-07-16

 

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[TroubleandGrumpy]

What a joke - if the Govt subsidised parent's buying one then OK, but as per normal practice here, there are kickbacks to be had and a premium price to be paid for Government procurement scams.  Remember those fans bought by a school - 40 odd of them were installed outside next to each other 🙂

 

[Will B Good]

Waste of money.....every single kid has a smartphone, which will be more than adequate for their needs at school.

[Pouatchee]

it didnt work with yingluck shi_awat the first time why would it work now?

this is just what these brain dead kids need, another distraction.

 

the major issue here is that the curriculum isnt designed for using tablets or computers. until changes are made in the entire program and money invested where it counts such as teacher salaries to attract the best minds, and not the laziest ones nothing will ever change.

 

these tablets are going to be a welcome distraction for the lazy thai teachers who will let the kids play and then tell admin they are working hard. 

 

 

the system here is not designed to assess kids skills based on learning with IT and every year these useless gvt white collars and admin keep saying how much the drop out rate is an epidemic and how much stupider thai kids are compared to their peers.

 

idiots!!!

 

[ikke1959]

The tablet manufacturer has to earn something too... all wasted money as the first time, not working, not recharged, no education of the teachers how to use it .... and all ended up in a cupboard and than....... nobody knows...

[hotchilli]

14 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Despite a budget cut from 16 billion to 13 billion baht, Thailand's Education Ministry is still pushing ahead with its ambitious plan to provide tablets for students. Assistant to the Education Minister, Siripong Angkasakulkiat, confirmed the ministry's commitment to the project.

What happened to the last tablets?

[Pouatchee]

4 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

What happened to the last tablets?

 

That is a mystery that only scholars and theologians can answer.

 

I did notice that my neighbors land suddenly got filled in quickly around 10 years ago... just sayin'

[Chris Daley]

And the boss will say:  Teacher no tablet in the classroom.  They will cheat.  Please use paper.