900,000 Tablet PCs To Be Handed Out Now: Thai Education Minister Suchart

[webfact]

Suchart launches ministry with more tablets, promises of action

SUPINDA NA MAHACHAI

WANNAPA KHAOPA

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- As many as 900,000 tablets would now be handed out to all Prathom 1 and some Prathom 4 students (first and fourth graders), newly appointed Education Minister Prof Suchart Thadathamrongvej said after meeting with the tablet policy management committee yesterday on his first day in office.

The newly declared number of tablets is an increase from the previously agreed 700,000, with a Bt1.9 billion budget.

As a result, the meeting agreed to submit a request to the Cabinet for another Bt1 billion in budget for the extra tablets, he said.

Suchart said all 860,000 Prathom 1 students under different ministries would be given the tablets, while the remaining tablets would be distributed to some Prathom 4 students.

Thailand would buy all the tablets from China under a government-to-government contract, he added.

At his policy declaration session at the Education Ministry, Suchart vowed to care for students and teachers as if they were family members - and rush to put the Pheu Thai Party's education policies into practice.

Hundreds of state officials from across the country attended the session yesterday. Many more watched the declaration live on National Broadcasting Services of Thailand (NBT channel) and Educational Television of Ministry of Education (ETV satellite channel) and listened to the policies on radio.

Red-shirt supporters from many provinces cheered Suchart and gave him a warm welcome to the ministry.

Originating from the same party as former education minister Woravat Auapinyakul, most of the announced policies are similar to Woravat's and in line with the party's intentions. Some policies will be added to improve the current ones. In addition, Suchart has some ideas about educational development he said he would try to push forward as well.

"My party's administration concept is about taking care of people as family members - and I will apply that to my administration at the ministry, too. I won't force teachers and students to do what the ministry wants to achieve, but will listen to them and what they want."

"With a commitment to a student-centred approach, students will be allowed to think out of the box or think differently and voice their needs," he said.

To adhere to the concept, Suchart vowed there would be no corruption and no cheating among students and teachers. "Although I support donations to provide more educational resources to schools, I will try to ensure no "tea money" bribery at schools. Teachers' recruitment and transfer processes and their academic standing assessments will be open and transparent - they should be allowed to defend their work during the assessment."

Technology-based learning is among the major policies of the party, which he will continue - including the tablet distribution to students and "e-education" programmes and contents developed to change schools to life-long learning centres.

The new minister said he would continue the English Speaking Year policy initiated by Worawat and strongly supports it. "We will try to seek more English native speakers for schools to encourage students to practise it. Every school should stop paying for unnecessary events and hiring companies to make banners printed with my picture to welcome me. The money should be used to hire foreign teachers instead. The Chinese language will also be promoted among interested students."

To open more opportunities for students to pursue education abroad, Suchart said he would add one more scholarship in addition to the current one-district one-scholarship project.

He also pledged to continue dealing with teachers' debt, merging small schools with management problems, creating students to be professionals, and a graduates' endowment fund.

Suchart talked about an idea that would allow agriculturists to transfer their experience to upper secondary and vocational education. Also, he urged officials of the Ordinary National Educational Test to provide a test every month instead of once a year to help students.

"The ministry's administrators and officials must implement their policies [promptly] otherwise they will be transferred," he said.

-- The Nation 2012-01-26

[Buchholz]

The newly declared number of tablets is an increase from the previously agreed 700,000

What was previously agreed was 11,000,000 tablet computers for all primary, secondary, and vocational students...

Thailand would buy all the tablets from China under a government-to-government contract, he added.

900,000 computers.... from China... in five months...

What could possibly go wrong?

.

[FOODLOVER]

The newly declared number of tablets is an increase from the previously agreed 700,000

What was previously agreed was 11,000,000 tablet computers for all primary, secondary, and vocational students...

Thailand would buy all the tablets from China under a government-to-government contract, he added.

900,000 computers.... from China... in five months...

What could possibly go wrong?

.

Good point. Did Thaksins water pumps arrive, yet?

[Ulysses G.]

Why tablets - because they are trendy? Notebooks give a lot more bang for the buck

[rkidlad]

Why tablets - because they are trendy? Notebooks give a lot more bang for the buck

Yes, but how are you supposed to pop balloons and bake cakes with your finger on a notepad?

[dmcguire70]

Why tablets - because they are trendy? Notebooks give a lot more bang for the buck

Laptops will be obsolete in a few years.

[ThaiRich]

The new tablets will be great next to the laptops the got 2 years ago under the " laptop for every student" program. Opps thats right, it didnt happen.

[rockderk]

"With a commitment to a student-centred approach, students will be allowed to think out of the box or think differently and voice their needs," he said.

10 year old lying on floor wai-ing "Thank you for allowing me to think out of the box, your Eminence".

[hellodolly]

Will the schools with out electricity get the tablets?

[Chupup]

New Face, same old B S

[Ricardo]

So the trials with the donated 600 notepads must be complete, and the decision has been made, which manufacturer to go with. This is considerable progress on the situation as-reported in a previous thread only a few days ago.

"life-long education centres" also sounds promising, perhaps some sort of Adult-Education programme may emerge, or even an 'Open-University', to help adults/workers improve their skills & knowledge, that would be a good thing IMO.

Hiring more foreign teachers, and promoting the 'English Speaking Year', are also steps in the right direction.

Not so sure that monthly testing, instead of annual tests, wouldn't risk distracting teachers/students from actually teaching/learning, though ? What would the teachers posting on TV say about this ?

[Jawnie]

This is simply a boon-doogle for the tablet manufacturer who obviously has connections in Thailand. An appalling and sad-to-watch unfolding event.

[DP25]

Why tablets - because they are trendy? Notebooks give a lot more bang for the buck

Laptops will be obsolete in a few years.

That is not going to happen. And with a laptop you can at least learn how to TYPE which is a useful skill for everyone and one that provides job opportunities, and you learn how to use a real computer that does more than play Angry Birds. Of course, maybe they don't WANT to provide better opportunities...

Edited January 26, 2012 by DP25

[jbsears]

I wonder if first grade students are the best choice for tablets. Older students may get greater utility from the tablets.

It is nice to see the emphasis on education. I am suprised from this party as in the past Thai Rak Thai would only give computers to those districts that voted for their candidates.

[Buchholz]

Will the schools with out electricity get the tablets?

Two options, solar and wind, with some modifications.

With the cap they remove the fan to power the tablet and with the phone, just need a slightly larger one for the tablet.

.

[DLock]

This whole tablet issue is very sad and painful to watch.

If anyone has seen an iphone copy from China, they kind of look the part, but they don't really work. They are slow, poor battery life, clunky, not well translated from Chinese and really not worth having. They are also poorly built and good luck if something goes wrong. They may have lots of books on them, but that's like getting socks for Christmas.

It feels like no one has really thought this through and just rushing to tick the election pledge box.

It has been well documented how they could be better using the money on education, which makes watching this train wreck even more painful. It will be one of the biggest wastes of money ever.

If they had been serious, really understood the problems, created a roll out strategy, training, content, wifi and support, I think everyone would be touting this as a great initiative and leading the world.

But alas, it's a bunch of buffoons creating the illusion of doing something meaningful for education, when we all know the only topic of discussion with the Chinese manufacturer is what bank account and how many percent.

[david555]

now they can go more looking for a sponsor , bad news for bar people ....

[chainarong]

Good idea, lots of fore thought ,well planned , nice execution in risk assessment. Who pays for the network provider???

[pimay11]

When I first saw the photo in the OP I thought the lady standing behind Suchart was holding a grenade launcher. I'm not joking.

[elcent]

maximum three month and 50% will be broken ... mark the date ...

[janverbeem]

When I first saw the photo in the OP I thought the lady standing behind Suchart was holding a grenade launcher. I'm not joking.

Probably you aren't even wrong.

[janverbeem]

maximum three month and 50% will be broken ... mark the date ...

You are very optimistic there.So you consider them to be handed out in fact?

[volk666]

The dude will stay an office for a couple of months, all his promises of listening and caring should be viewed from that perspective. Apparently main order of business is to buy those tablets before school starts - before he is replaced in the next reshuffle when banned TRT politicos come back online - so forget all the talk about testing and deciding on an auction format, there's no time for that. Just buy somewhere while you have the money.

[Buchholz]

Good idea, lots of fore thought ,well planned , nice execution in risk assessment. Who pays for the network provider???

it will all be free...

Thailand wires up with free Wi-Fi

The Thai government announced it will be offering free public Wi-Fi in the Greater Bangkok area starting on Wednesday, and the roll out is part of its 30 billion baht (US$957 million) ICT master plan called Smart Thailand.

Thailand's Ministry of Information and Communication Technology Minister pointed out that the Wi-Fi coverage has been planned for city halls in 77 provinces, 878 district offices, 2,010 municipalities, 7,355 tambons (sub-districts), 5,765 tambon administration organizations, 12,355 schools, 1,278 hospitals and 8,269 police stations.

ZDNet Asia - December 27, 2011

http://www.zdnetasia.com/thailand-wires-up-with-free-wi-fi-62303326.htm

[tcris52]

Wonderful. Now they can keep up-to-date with their Facebook friends during class. No more having to wait for class to be over. Well, at least they might stay awake during class now.

[n1sse]

I know phatom 4 students that are good whit the computer, they don't want a tablet becouce they can't work whit things like powerpoint, excel and so on on that!

So I think its like many say its good for facebook and angry birds but not for real life work!

Edited January 26, 2012 by n1sse

[SymS]

Why tablets - because they are trendy? Notebooks give a lot more bang for the buck

Laptops will be obsolete in a few years.

I think Tablets and Netbooks/Laptops will merge. Tablets are more fun and portable, but it's not convenient to type text on them. I think we'll see more and more clones of the Eeepad transformer with a dock with keyboard where you can plug your tablet.

PS: 700,000 tablets for 1.9 Billion, that's 2700 Baht per tablet, a bit more than what the Indians pays for their Educational tablet (Aakash): equivalent of 1800 Baht.

[rockderk]

Good idea, lots of fore thought ,well planned , nice execution in risk assessment. Who pays for the network provider???

it will all be free...

Thailand wires up with free Wi-Fi

The Thai government announced it will be offering free public Wi-Fi in the Greater Bangkok area starting on Wednesday, and the roll out is part of its 30 billion baht (US$957 million) ICT master plan called Smart Thailand.

'Smart: adj.neat or elegant in dress or appearance Definition from 'Thai False Friends' - Cambridge International Dictionary of English [1995 ed]

[englishinsiam]

PS: 700,000 tablets for 1.9 Billion, that's 2700 Baht per tablet, a bit more than what the Indians pays for their Educational tablet (Aakash): equivalent of 1800 Baht.

Of course you have to build in the obligatory bungs for the right people.

Even IF they get delivered and don't break (haha) kids handwriting skills will go out of the Window.

When I worked in an office and was writing regularly my handwritten English was of a good standard. Now i rarely write I find it's scrawly and I miss important grammartical quotes etc.

That will happen with these kids.........

Another thing WHEN these cheap Chinese clones break are there backup Tablets for the Chilblains?

[Anon999]

A little basic maths says that an extra 1 billion baht for the remaining 200,000 tablets is roughly twice the unit cost for the first 700,000. I wonder why?