Thailand Approves 29 Billion Baht for Tablets and Laptops for Schools

[webfact]

Picture courtesy: Thai Rath

 

The Thai government has greenlit a budget of 29 billion baht to purchase tablets and laptops for secondary school students.

 

On 28th January, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra announced that the Cabinet had approved the expenditure as part of their initiative to enhance digital education across the country.

 

This move is part of a broader educational funding plan, totalling 7.9 billion baht for the year 2025, aimed at promoting equality and preventing school dropouts, potentially benefiting 1.35 million students. It focuses on providing digital resources to enable learning "anywhere, anytime."

 

Education Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul noted that the funding will cover the distribution of digital devices to over 600,000 students in Grades 10 to 12 during the next academic year.

The plan will later extend to lower secondary education, involving approximately 1.2 million students, with an additional 29 billion baht earmarked for 2026.

 

This initiative aligns with the government's strategy to integrate technology into education, thereby facilitating lifelong learning and human capital development.

 

The "Digital Skill/Credit Portfolio: Empowering Educations" project aims to leverage technology to enhance digital skills while reducing costs related to supplementary learning resources, reported Thai Rath.

 

-- 2025-01-29

 

 

[flyingtlger]

23 minutes ago, webfact said:

The Thai government has greenlit a budget of 29 billion baht to purchase tablets and laptops for secondary school students...

As always, I'm sure a politician or politicians will have their dirty hands in the deal......

[ChrisY1]

Oh great news...last time they did this stupid project that at the time, cost billions also....the pads mostly failed after a short time...cheap Chinese crap because someone had a friend!

This time they're for secondary school kids...hopefully they don't get the mandatory cheap junk!

[OneMoreFarang]

How much did they spend on software?

How much did they spend on training for the teachers?

Please publish the details of the requirements. Which company bid? What prices were offered?

 

And why didn't they use the existing hardware = the mobile "phones" basically everybody has already?

 

Another Shinawatra scam?

[JoePai]

25 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

How much did they spend on software?  Nothing as Fb and Tictok is already installed 

How much did they spend on training for the teachers?  Again nothing as not necessary, the kids already know how to use Fb and Tictok

Please publish the details of the requirements. Which company bid? What prices were offered?  Solly cannot tell how much the new Benz's are costing

 

 

[Tropicalevo]

Another hand out announcement just in time for the POA elections. 

[sammieuk1]

400 baht after disbursements and fleeing embezzlers plane tickets 🤔

 

[thesetat]

4 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

Oh great news...last time they did this stupid project that at the time, cost billions also....the pads mostly failed after a short time...cheap Chinese crap because someone had a friend!

This time they're for secondary school kids...hopefully they don't get the mandatory cheap junk!

They do it again because some politician made a great deal of money on this scam without any retort from the public. 

Those tablets previously were crap. The schools barely used them and the kids were the same. My own kids had one and they lasted about 2 months. I am certain the same will happen again. What a waste. 

[hotchilli]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

The Thai government has greenlit a budget of 29 billion baht to purchase tablets and laptops for secondary school students.

What happened to the last ones ?

[Pouatchee]

Even in the west students don't need pc's nor tablets to learn. The curriculum simply isn't designed for use of IT. 

She should invest this money in the schools and on professional development of thai teachers rather than on this crap that will serve no other purpose other than to soften thai kids brains, which are already mucky enough as it is

[Paul Henry]

We all know the reasons and beneficiaries this "INVESTMENT"  was planned and is going ahead,  Reason fot THAI SMILE

[Hardcastle P]

8 hours ago, JoePai said:

 

This assumes they all have an intranet connection at home.

[BKKBike09]

13 hours ago, webfact said:

Digital Skill/Credit Portfolio: Empowering Educations

 

"empowering educations" ... bodes well for the project! I'll proofread the project materials for a measly 0.1% of that 29 billion baht.

[Galomir]

Can't you learn "anywhere, anytime." with a book ? 

Cheap tablets don't last long, chromebooks are e-waste.

[jingjai9]

I can see it now.,,, the students play games on the computers while the teacher plays on his/her phone.

This happens all too often and it is a shame, perhaps an expensive shame.

[Joseph98765]

29.000.000.000 / 800.000 = 36,250

 

That's the price for a Macbook....they will have better laptop than me..5555

[Purdey]

I would love to know the cost of one tablet. 200k?

[KannikaP]

14 hours ago, webfact said:

This move is part of a broader educational funding plan, totalling 7.9 billion baht for the year 2025, aimed at promoting equality and preventing school dropouts, potentially benefiting 1.35 million students. It focuses on providing digital resources to enable learning "anywhere, anytime."

 

Education Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul noted that the funding will cover the distribution of digital devices to over 600,000 students in Grades 10 to 12 during the next academic year.

The plan will later extend to lower secondary education, involving approximately 1.2 million students, with an additional 29 billion baht earmarked for 2026.

In my adding up, 1.35M + 600,000 + 1.2M students adds up to 3.15M. which makes each machine about Bht THB 25,000. They better be bloody good ones!

It will also enable them to play games, and talk to each other 'anywhere, anytime'.

[BangkokReady]

18 hours ago, webfact said:

The Thai government has greenlit a budget of 29 billion baht to purchase tablets and laptops for secondary school students.

 

It boggles the mind that they would do this before considering a few very simple changes that would cost nothing and have a monumentally positive effect.

[Will B Good]

 

Houston...we have a problem....throw money at it......don't you want to know what the problem is....no.....NEXT.

[scorecard]

16 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

Oh great news...last time they did this stupid project that at the time, cost billions also....the pads mostly failed after a short time...cheap Chinese crap because someone had a friend!

This time they're for secondary school kids...hopefully they don't get the mandatory cheap junk!

 

And hopefully:

- There's a repair facility readily available.

- There's a dedicated / qualified team permanently assigned to developing quality content for the students to access.

- There's a facility for students to ask questions and get prompt accurate answers and all this is used to establish a  Q and A process, easy to access.

[HappyExpat57]

I was at a school that received these "tablets" the first time they tried this. Hear me out, this is NOT a joke:

 

There was a lesson with cartoon graphics of how to use an ATM. It displayed a western man entering the suggested PIN, successfully withdrawing money, then giving it to a young Thai lady.

[GammaGlobulin]

Another One Laptop Per Child?

 

Hope the plan is well thought out.

 

[scottiejohn]

4 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Another One Laptop Per Child?

 

Hope the plan is well thought out.

 

We are talking about Thailand!!

[GammaGlobulin]

2 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

We are talking about Thailand!!

 

So then...

 

Where is Negroponte when we need him most?