Thai Govt Scales Down Plan To Give Free Tablet Computers

[Buchholz]

It's quite deceptive and unethical marketing to show and demonstrate the functionality of a 10K THB product when you're only going to give an inferior product that's worth less than half that.

<snip>

<snip>

It's even worse that. The tablets for the students are only being budgeted at 1/5 to 1/3 of the cost of the showpieces Yingluck deceptively displays.

<snip>

Education Minister Woravat Au-apinyakul

said each tablet PC would range between Bt2,000 and Bt3,000 in price and Pathom-1 students would get the devices first.

-- The Nation 2011-09-20

Edited October 8, 2011 by Buchholz

[473geo]

wasn't there talk of the tablets being assembled in Thailand....another good intiative to create employment.......I guess there was not an actual tablet to display as yet as the assembly has not started.........of course just a minor point.......what did you guys expect her to do? show a drawing to the kids and the public.......

[thanchart]

wasn't there talk of the tablets being assembled in Thailand....another good intiative to create employment.......

In my opinion, assembing locally is good, but not enough to achieve maximum cost effectiveness. It should designed locally as well. Only then can a custom-tailored tablet right for educational purpose and not as a generic all-purpose tablet.

[Mitker]

The government is doing the right thing. Had the tablets been distributed to every child immediately all the same posters here would be surely accusing the government of wasting money as the teachers don't know how to use them. Prepare the schools and teachers first is the way to go and really I don't see scaling back just a delay... Another misleading headline?

PT has been widely criticized during the campaign for luring voters with demagogic promises. It worked, they won.

Now the plain mechanism of this demagogy is exposed day after day (cancelling totally or substantially the huge overnight wages increases for everyone, the credit cards for farmers, the tablet for each child...).

They're not doing anything "right" here. They just avoid falling even lower.

Education, education, education...

Edited October 8, 2011 by Mitker

[Mitker]

It didn't say "maybe" or "to be discussed".

Edited October 8, 2011 by Mitker

[patjem]

I would also suggest that the term "derogatory" is beyond context to describe said characature.

Yoon doesn't run Thai Visa Forum.

There is a content sharing deal and nothing more.

But this caricature of a public figure comes under fair use caricature. : The pseudo godhead made himself a public figure,

and so must take the positives with the negatives.

car·i·ca·ture  [kar-i-kuh-cher, -choor]

noun , verb, -tured, -turing

1. a picture, description, etc., ludicrously exaggerating the peculiarities or defects of persons or things:

His caricature of the mayor in this morning's paper is the best he's ever drawn.

2. the art or process of producing such pictures, descriptions,etc.

3. any imitation or copy so distorted or inferior as to be ludicrous.

[serenitynow]

there are countries where many schools in the provinces have no electricity

Also, many homes don't have (or have intermittent) electricity.

Many households may not have internet access in their area, or may not be able to afford it even if it's available.

The Internet must NOT be used as the primary/direct source to access educational courseware. If that is the intended approach, it will not work in poor areas/countries. Much of the materials to be used in the class should be already stored locally in the tablet. Else there will be a bottleneck faced by the students if the whole school is accessing the internet at the same time.There are many ways to skin the cat, and that goes for downloading the courseware into the tablets - OFFLINE is a cost-effective way.

For locations with limited or no electricity, even recharging the tablets have to be considered. If the kids cannot recharge the batteries at home, the school has to do it. Should the kids be allowed bring the tablets home in thr 1st place?

I hope those who are in charge of this prioject have clearly defined the objectives of the tablet approach. Is it to give students a powerful gadget to access any information or is it to improve the way lessons are taught and increase the enthusiasm for learning by using the approach of eLearning? Of course the issue of outdated textbooks will become less of a problem with the eLearning approach.

In the project I was involved in, it is assumed that the students will have no direct access to the Internet! For the more fortunate few who have access, good for them. But for the majority, eLearning goes on, with or without the Internet. In fact the internet is used by the program administrators only for updating courseware

While the below article is asking many right questions, it is looking at things from an orthordox perpectve as to how the internet is used - in normal applications

http://www.nationmul...n-30164387.html

You seem extremely knowledagable on this subject and any government, most especially Thailand's would be fortunate to have you advising them. One of the things you don't seem to understand however, given the very valid and thoughtful points you raise, is this. No one in government here has considered any of those points you raise. It was merely a campaign pledge that even their own people say should not have been taken seriously. It was solely made to garner votes. It was a lie. That's really sad isn't it?

[thanchart]

You seem extremely knowledagable on this subject and any government, most especially Thailand's would be fortunate to have you advising them. One of the things you don't seem to understand however, given the very valid and thoughtful points you raise, is this. No one in government here has considered any of those points you raise. It was merely a campaign pledge that even their own people say should not have been taken seriously. It was solely made to garner votes. It was a lie. That's really sad isn't it?

Thanks for yr kind comments. What I've said is from what I had experienced and my ideas had been shared with that country's local team working on their project. I know they have been taken into account as the implementation plan is being rolled out.

I certainly hope I can have the chance to contribute to similar effort in LOS. This would be a good way to contribute & give back to this country I am intending to call home - for a long time to come, I hope

[thanchart]

it is possible to hit below $120 - `$150 [maybe even < $100 now, depending on Qty]

That's still a lot more than the 35 USD Indian one. Would you have to cut a lot of corners to get it down to under 50 USD?

Sorry, Correcton, The $120 - `$150 was intended for 10" tablets. 7" tablets would be a lot cheaper. The original target for 7" was in region of $70 until the committee saw the 10" working prototype and fell in love with it and they decided to drop the 7" version. If Budget is available, the 10" is much better

[daboyz1]

Woravat has an idea to provide the tablets with basic specifications, but if any schools want higher or advanced specifications, they can apply for funds to get them.

Curious to learn what these "basic and advanced specs" might be

basic model

Thanks for making me spit beer all over my computer. Priceless!!

[hyperdimension]

In the project I was involved in, it is assumed that the students will have no direct access to the Internet!

The campaign posters clearly stated "One Tablet PC per Child" and "Free WiFi". Most people would logically assume that the Tablet PCs would access the internet via the freely provided WiFi. If they don't provide the free WiFi, it would be yet another broken promise.

[Cayenne]

I hope those who are in charge of this prioject have clearly defined the objectives of the tablet approach. Is it to give students a powerful gadget to access any information or is it to improve the way lessons are taught and increase the enthusiasm for learning by using the approach of eLearning? Of course the issue of outdated textbooks will become less of a problem with the eLearning approach.

I do hope they learned from the predecessors who were in charge of the 1 million PC project under Thaksin over 6 years ago; that was another project designed to push out as much hardware as possible at cheap prices and ultimately failed because infrastructure was an after thought (i.e. in most rural areas they couldn't get internet service; most schools didn't have a computer literate staff so the PCs ended up in closet somewhere, etc.)

[thanchart]

In the project I was involved in, it is assumed that the students will have no direct access to the Internet!

The campaign posters clearly stated "One Tablet PC per Child" and "Free WiFi". Most people would logically assume that the Tablet PCs would access the internet via the freely provided WiFi. If they don't provide the free WiFi, it would be yet another broken promise.

I hope by free WiFi, they are indicating that the tablets come with WiFi connectivity (cost of a built-in WiFi module is not longer prohibitive, esp if on-board). If so that is great and is what I had also professed in my project. WiFI connectivity allows all sorts of things thta make usage of tablet very convenient and there are many practical applicators in a program like this.

But if they are thinking of direct connection to the Internet using WiFi, I hate to think of the bottlenecks the users are going to experience. eLearnng is multimedia heavy and Low bandwidth is not going to cut it. If one ever tried using the free WiFi in Silicon Valley USA courtesy of Google, you will know what I mean. The SLOOOW... downloading sucks. One experience was enough for me to avoid hotels w/o broadband WiFI for guest, however cheap the room ratesmay be (needed for work). Unless there is a humongous budget for providing broadband WiFI access which I think few developing countries will have.

I still think that eLearning courseware in classrooms should already be stored in the tablets and updates can be done periodically by the school administrators

[thanchart]

I hope those who are in charge of this prioject have clearly defined the objectives of the tablet approach. Is it to give students a powerful gadget to access any information or is it to improve the way lessons are taught and increase the enthusiasm for learning by using the approach of eLearning? Of course the issue of outdated textbooks will become less of a problem with the eLearning approach.

I do hope they learned from the predecessors who were in charge of the 1 million PC project under Thaksin over 6 years ago; that was another project designed to push out as much hardware as possible at cheap prices and ultimately failed because infrastructure was an after thought (i.e. in most rural areas they couldn't get internet service; most schools didn't have a computer literate staff so the PCs ended up in closet somewhere, etc.)

This points to a lack of understamding of how systems work. PCs must not be used as an end to itself. The system (and I don't mean hardware alone) has to be designed such that it is easy to managed and update - even remotely so that school administrators do only basic tasks. I had used a modified idea of cloud computing to achieve this. PCs are not the olny options. To me they are too expensive for a nationwide project like this.

[billd766]

Up in my local village we do have electricity except on ocaission during thunder storms.

The local village school got its first (and only) telephone line this year.

Free tablets and wifi up here anyone?

I live about 800 metres from the school and I am still waiting for a phone connection after 8 years.

[thanchart]

Up in my local village we do have electricity except on ocaission during thunder storms.

The local village school got its first (and only) telephone line this year.

Free tablets and wifi up here anyone?

I live about 800 metres from the school and I am still waiting for a phone connection after 8 years.

sounds like a scenario that I had catered for in my previous project, only slightly better cos there is electricity "on tap", compared to a scenario I had, where the school is only a covered shed with no electricity. My proposal for that project will work just fine for this school, except coursework updates cannot be done instantly since there is no internet access (unless a dial-up modem can be used). Well a few days or weeks delay in courseware updates wouldn't hurt this school surely - they have got eLearning!

"Free tablets and wifi up here anyone?"

Yes this would be just perfect. It will work

Edited October 9, 2011 by thanchart

[473geo]

Up in my local village we do have electricity except on ocaission during thunder storms.

The local village school got its first (and only) telephone line this year.

Free tablets and wifi up here anyone?

I live about 800 metres from the school and I am still waiting for a phone connection after 8 years.

So I guess you post from where? Aircard? People don't have mobile phones?

[billd766]

Up in my local village we do have electricity except on ocaission during thunder storms.

The local village school got its first (and only) telephone line this year.

Free tablets and wifi up here anyone?

I live about 800 metres from the school and I am still waiting for a phone connection after 8 years.

So I guess you post from where? Aircard? People don't have mobile phones?

I use a second mobile that I have had for a few years connected by a USB cable to my laptop, a prepaid DTAC sim and I use EDGE which works fairly well from my local DTAC cell site unless more people are using mobiles and it gets squeezed out.

If you want a highspeed connection you either need a good landline or a 3G mobile with the 3G cellsite close.

Unfortunately both are in short supply in my mooban.

Now if say 30 schoolkids all want to use their tablets at the same time the system will overload and crash.

To make the system work properly the fible optic backbone network in Thailand ahs to be massively upgraded and the international gateways expanded by at least 100 times.

Just think of the opportunities for corruption in there.

[473geo]

I'd rather think of the opportunities for the children......but that's just me I guess......

[thanchart]

Now if say 30 schoolkids all want to use their tablets at the same time the system will overload and crash.

To make the system work properly the fible optic backbone network in Thailand ahs to be massively upgraded and the international gateways expanded by at least 100 times.

you are absolutely right. If the idea is to use Direct connection for each kid, the plan is doomed from Day One. Worse, much of the content will be multimedia heavy.

Have to impletement the prroject in an unorthodox manner - not usng a conventional way of Internet access we are so used to.

[Buchholz]

Another huge backtracking...

From the massive electioneering promise of all students, numbering in the millions, in all schools receiving the implied Samsung Galaxy tablets that Yingluck paraded to the campaign crowds... down to only first graders receiving 2,000 baht plastic readers... to now, only some first graders.

It's quite deceptive and unethical marketing to show and demonstrate the functionality of a 10K THB product when you're only going to give an inferior product that's worth less than half that.

Yingluck Shinawatra, the sister of toppled former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra and the prime ministerial candidate for the country's biggest opposition Puea Thai party, holds up a Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet computer as she speaks to supporters in Bangkok June 18, 2011. Thais will go to the polls on July 3 for a general election. Yingluck was speaking about using tablets for use in schools as part of her plans if she is elected. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom

Source:Yingluck Shinawatra holds up a tablet computer as she speaks to supporters in Bangkok

When Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra held up a Samsung Galaxy tablet and announced a plan to give every Prathom 1 (Grade 1) student in the country a free tablet PC, she succeeded in sparking a dream of better education.

Source: Tablets cannot cure the cancer in Thai education

As part of the budget debate, the education ministry announced today that it wants 1.6 Billion Baht to purchase the tablet computers for some first-grade students, which is a huge scale down from the much-hyped One-Tablet-Per-Child promise.

The budget is to cover buying 470,000 tablets with a per tablet cost of 3,100 baht, plus software for 310 baht.

The ministry said there are about 850,000 first-graders.

.

[Moruya]

Shameless duping of the electorate

[ginjag]

Any school ready to use tablet computers for teaching and learning will be given the tools early next year, Education Minister Woravat Auapinyakul told Nation Multimedia Group (NMG) yesterday.

He urged interested schools to prepare their teachers and students well to embrace the opportunity, as only schools that can prove they are capable of making use of the tablets will be chosen.

So, the poor schools who can not afford to train their teachers won't be able to get the tablets.

Score -1 for the poor again.

You cannot expect election promises because of the flood water ???? even though there was a 2 month gap in between. You cannot expect 300 bht a day in the other 90 % of provinces because of water damage in the banknotes factory ---scale down all the promises that WAS the plan. Maybe Yingluck is sort of lucky the floods came to her help so the attention were off the pledges??

[travelmann]

Just what the kids need another source to play dumb games on/ spend all night chatting.

[travelmann]

Shameless duping of the electorate

for a second i thought you'd put "shameless stupid electorate"

[FOODLOVER]

A tablet is a tablet, no brand mentioned, only a few examples shown

Here's a tablet just for you.

[jackr]

Roll in the tanks, fellas.

[Ricardo]

Shameless duping of the electorate

Luckily the kids, who will fail to get what they were clearly promised, can't yet vote.

[webfact]

...and we close this topic

//CLOSED//