No Deal On Computer Tablets, Thai Education Ministry Prepares Textbooks

[Skywalker69]

Even the Chinese have a limit to the amount of kickback that is being demanded .... but can someone tell me how these incompetents still have the support of the masses?

When will common sense start to prevail in this country?

Common sense and Thailand dosent walk hand in hand.

[Skywalker69]

Plan C, after it does not work with text-books

1 sheet of paper and a pencil for every child.....

Updated campaign poster :

Interesting that you point out there is no date on the election posters. What happens now pales into insignificance compared to the year before the next general elections. If in 2 years time there is progress with tablets, high speed rail, 300 Baht nationwide minimum wage, etc. PT will give the Dems another pasting at the polls. Maybe they aren't as stupid as you are trying to make them out to be.

Yea, and in two years the Moon will turn blue.

[whybother]

I dont think there is much mileage in picking on one political party (the one one power) since it seems to me that all poleticians make promises at least a couple of years befoe they do the sums and logistics. The same is true to some extent of politicians worldwide and there is always some "Unexpected external force" that prevents or waters it down. All any prospective government should really do is to say what their "aims" are and that "they will do what they are able to, after they get elected" - wouldnt win many votes however and there lies the problem with Politics. Would the current UK government have been elected if their manifesto had been about austerity cut backs, wage freees and the destruction of public services?

I think that probably, like many other people including Microsoft, they are jumping to the conclusion that tablets are the future - but I dont think this is necessarily the case. Most people I know use their tablets as a secondary device. It is also, as others have poined out, somewhat of a risk strategy in the current Thai economy, to issue relatively valuable electronic equipment to people struggling to pay for the essentials in life.

An increase in the number of computers in schools is probably a more sensible solution and I disagree with the person who suggested a "couple in each class" are enough - because more and more jobs will depend on a decent understanding of computers and they are a part of daily life. They are needed but, in addition to books and other traditional tools, not as a replacement for them.

There is plenty of mileage to be had in picking on the political party making the promises. Otherwise what would the point of making and/or fulfilling promises? The job of the political party making promises is to either fulfill their promise, or try to give valid reasons for not fulfilling their promise. Then it is up to the electorate to decide whether they will elect the party making the promises in the next election.

[hbullinger]

Discussion No. 19, 'birdpooguava'.

Correct, PT aren't as stupid as some try to make them, but they know how stupid their voters are. As the North/Northeast population will always be larger than that in the rest of the country PT can do what they like. They will always win the elections and the country will be stuck with them.

[h90]

Good thing that it didn't happen...The number of notebooks having problems would be in the tens of thousands every day. Who is going to fix or reload software for all these units. Each school will need to hire an IT guy to keep the internet working and computers up and running. Nightmare for sure !

Not if they are all exactly the same.

On Notebooks, everything perfectly preinstalled on HD. Just swap the HD and send it to the service center (where they just upload the software again).

I can just imagine the grade one teachers taking a laptop apart replacing the hard disk.

.... actually, no I can't.

Really?

On my laptop here, you open one screw, than you can open the place for the HD.

Than you open 2 more screws and pull it out.

2 min work.

But OK, they could have 3 more laptops and send the defective to the service center while giving an indent one to the kid.

But maybe it isn't a problem at all, because if they deliver 100.000 Laptops just 20.000 end with the kids.....The rest disappear.

[Skywalker69]

Plan C, after it does not work with text-books

1 sheet of paper and a pencil for every child.....

Paper? Pencil?

When I was a lad it was, 'Where's your slate boy?'

I guess that was some sort of tablet after all.

One sheet of paper is cheaper...just 20 Baht (including the kickback)

With 1.000.000 sheet´s that´s a lot of money.

[cooked]

I was just wondering about what would actually happen to any tablets distributed.Some would be sold immediately (buffalo ate it). Some would in the traditional fashion, miraculously stop working after 5 minutes. What was left over would indeed be used for games and Facebook/swapping porno videos.

I'm all for making knowledge of other cultures and philosophies more available but this also requires a certain intellectual curiosity which won't be learnt at school.

[Skywalker69]

To my mind Posters were not wrong pre election to now (most). It stunk from day 1, and a laugh a minute since. The said government are so selfish to satisfy their own ends, they treated all the electorate as a stupid lot of sheep, underestimating their intelligence. Putting this together with the other failed promises, look very much like lies, OR they the government are more stupid that the voters who were conned in the first place. Damage now has been done to the extent the Yingluck government cannot be trusted, even if they do a u turn NOW

True words spoken.

[Skywalker69]

What a bunch of jokers you guys above are...

I'd be laughing myself silly, if the whole affair wasn't so pathetically sad.

+1

[Skywalker69]

I bash when needed---but where are the loyal pro PPT posters ??? not seen many come in to defend ??? but if they do they will say -Well done government for backing out thus saving loads of money--5555 Ha Ha

This is to hard to defend.

[Skywalker69]

if Steve Jobs can get the factory in China just days before launching the iPhone to design, engineer and change the face of it to glass, replacing the plastic, I'm sure China can pump out some basic tablets. This is just too convenient, and it smells.

Not until there is ink on a contract they won't. As noted in the article, contracts have not even been signed yet. How can a suppliers quote delivery schedules until the customer commits? The smell is someone waiting for their kickback on the sale and the Chinese are balking because they don't need the business and are on tight margins.

The Foxconn factory that Apple uses has 300,000 staff if I recall - that's a bit over 3 tablets per person for a day's work to pump out a million. The Chinese can pull it off for sure - if the right provider is selected.

And the right prize is payed.

[MAJIC]

Ones hopes that as the business ethics in China is very different to most of the world (although happily it is the same as Thailands) I hope the good disgruntled people from Scope say who received the tea money, hookers, elaborate gifts to get so far in this process before Thailand took back all their potential profit by charging them import tax. Guess they worked out that even paying tea money to get around that element, it would not be worth the effort.

Re the poster; I thought I saw this one or maybe my subconscious read it as such.

Didn't it also say"I will make all Thais Rich in six months" Quote: Thaksin Shinawatra 2011

Edited April 24, 2012 by MAJIC

[Pseudolus]

Ones hopes that as the business ethics in China is very different to most of the world (although happily it is the same as Thailands) I hope the good disgruntled people from Scope say who received the tea money, hookers, elaborate gifts to get so far in this process before Thailand took back all their potential profit by charging them import tax. Guess they worked out that even paying tea money to get around that element, it would not be worth the effort.

Re the poster; I thought I saw this one or maybe my subconscious read it as such.

Didn't it also say"I will make all Thais Rich in six months"

That was on the real one I believe, but this novel picture was taken with a psychic camera and photographed the real intent of the party campaign.

[Wavefloater]

As stated in many posts, the numerous flaws with the original plan seemed obvious to everybody (except the politicians involved). The fact that the plan has fallen on its proverbial face, doesn't surprise anybody (except maybe the politicians involved). However, what perplexes me is plan B. Giving textbooks to grade one students seems extremely logical and pretty necessary for the little tykes to learn their ABC's and 123's, but those involved make it sound like some new magical idea. So, at what grade do they usually start using books in Thai government schools?

[Skywalker69]

As stated in many posts, the numerous flaws with the original plan seemed obvious to everybody (except the politicians involved). The fact that the plan has fallen on its proverbial face, doesn't surprise anybody (except maybe the politicians involved). However, what perplexes me is plan B. Giving textbooks to grade one students seems extremely logical and pretty necessary for the little tykes to learn their ABC's and 123's, but those involved make it sound like some new magical idea. So, at what grade do they usually start using books in Thai government schools?

A new zero sucsess? Zero education.

[happysanook]

nothing but good news. no real schoolwork woulda gotten done.... facebook chat and games woulda been 99% of the use on those things.

[Buchholz]

Updated campaign poster :

Interesting that you point out there is no date on the election posters. What happens now pales into insignificance compared to the year before the next general elections. If in 2 years time there is progress with tablets, high speed rail, 300 Baht nationwide minimum wage, etc. PT will give the Dems another pasting at the polls. Maybe they aren't as stupid as you are trying to make them out to be.

Guess we'll have to wait and see how much progress on their multitude of promises they keep.

So far, they are something like 1 for 18.

p.s. the PTP did announce a completion date for nation-wide Free WiFi. 2015.

They also announced there were supposedly already 20,000 free WiFi hotspots in Bangkok as of last January, with an additional 20,000 free WiFi spots there by this October, which would eventually lead to 250,000 free WiFi spots in Bangkok by 2015 for their 30 Billion Baht scheme.

I have it on good authority that one of these free wifi hotspots is up and running in Thai Parliament already...

Not being a Bangkokian, I'd be genuinely interested to hear if any its inhabitants really have encountered any these supposed 20,000 government-sponsored free WiFi hotspots in Bangkok or have heard of any of the 20,000 additional government-sponsored free WiFi hotspots coming to their area by October.

.

Edited April 24, 2012 by Buchholz

[MaiChai]

Ah, who said Thais are terrible at planning? Hate to generalise, but...

Too much emphasis on 'showing face' rather than putting together a realistic implementation plan?

[theanimaster]

.... but can someone tell me how these incompetents still have the support of the masses?

When will common sense start to prevail in this country?

I can't really blame the government; I talk to different Thai adults every week and NONE of them are interested in the news, current events, pollution, world news, etc. When I asked them if they heard about the bombings in BKK almost 100 percent of them said "what bombings". They just don't know and don't care. The masses know more about "Super Stars" then about their own country. So you can't blame politicians for taking advantage of the masses.

It is not much different in the US where we have a great number of idiots who believe that eliminating government and letting big business fuc_k over the people is a good idea. The idiots don't remember history too well because they couldn't be bothered to study it. They don't remember that the government is the one that keeps the drinking water safe, the food safe, workers safe from safety hazards in the work environment, etc. But these same idiots are the ones jumping up and down clamoring to know why the government didn't do more to protect them when they learn all the painted products imported from China contain lead, or that the vegetables imported from Mexico have e coli contamination. Not to bright those folks "I want no government but I want the government to protect me".

By all means, BLAME THE GOVERNMENT. It's their design after all -- simply put, make education a frustrating and confusing experience for the masses, and what you get is a confused, complacent population that is easily fooled by election promises. The government is happy the way things are going -- BECAUSE IT WORKS... FOR THEM.

This is NOTHING what the US education system/government is about. In the States, our government doesn't <removed> the people over by making them complacent non-thinking ding-dongs. Americans do that to themselves, truly, but we DO have genuine teachers there, and the system DOES support the development of our citizens. It's no wonder they do -- because the US ~HAS~ to produce a certain amount and quality of thinkers in order to advance the nation. This is something that Thailand is NOT interested in. Thailand's politicians are only interested in milking their own people.

As a testament to what's happening, the Philippine government has now followed suit with its education system -- they are now modeling Thailand's. Why? Because they were producing people who 'thought too much' about politics. By following Thailand's "lead" the Philippine government will find it a hell of a lot easier to manipulate the population in the future.

[thaicbr]

As stated in many posts, the numerous flaws with the original plan seemed obvious to everybody (except the politicians involved). The fact that the plan has fallen on its proverbial face, doesn't surprise anybody (except maybe the politicians involved). However, what perplexes me is plan B. Giving textbooks to grade one students seems extremely logical and pretty necessary for the little tykes to learn their ABC's and 123's, but those involved make it sound like some new magical idea. So, at what grade do they usually start using books in Thai government schools?

In some schools it MAY be the 1st time that EVERY kid has a book rather than sharing the book with 5 other classes.

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

[boggle]

Good thing that it didn't happen...The number of notebooks having problems would be in the tens of thousands every day. Who is going to fix or reload software for all these units. Each school will need to hire an IT guy to keep the internet working and computers up and running. Nightmare for sure !

Not if they are all exactly the same.

On Notebooks, everything perfectly preinstalled on HD. Just swap the HD and send it to the service center (where they just upload the software again).

I think you will find the is no HD (whirling discs) as such in these comps. All will be solid state memory and probably incorporated on the one pcb per comp. Not so easy or cheap to change out.

[12DrinkMore]

Thai kids need to get outdoors and play. Currently, there's only 1 hour per school week required for outdoor recreation. No wonder Thai kids are generally blah-eyed with flaccid muscle tone. It's reflected in their simplistic pop songs, which all sound like sappy goodnight tunes for granma and granpa.

Outdoors and play?

The blah-eyes come from watching the bloody TV 24 hours/day.

The flaccid muscle tone and increasing fat deposits from stuffing themselves with high sugar content bullshit, whilst watching TV.

They similarly flaccid brain tone comes also from watching the endless stream of bullshit on the TV.

I have yet to enter a Thai household where if there is a TV, it is turned on. Even the local SCB bank has a TV for the staff to watch, and the post office, and the 7/11 and the local tax office, and the local vehicle licensing place.

TV is the biggest destroyer of intelligence and fitness on the planet.

Maybe I'm personally cranially challenged, but there is no way I can study, learn and read with the TV and/or music turned on.

Edited April 24, 2012 by 12DrinkMore

[jamesbrock]

Sadly this is as expected and right on schedule for the delay to put things off schedule.

"1 tablet per child."

No ,ore like :

'All Children Left Behind.'

"All children kept behind."

[jamesbrock]

Ones hopes that as the business ethics in China is very different to most of the world (although happily it is the same as Thailands) I hope the good disgruntled people from Scope say who received the tea money, hookers, elaborate gifts to get so far in this process before Thailand took back all their potential profit by charging them import tax. Guess they worked out that even paying tea money to get around that element, it would not be worth the effort.

Re the poster; I thought I saw this one or maybe my subconscious read it as such.

What happened to # 4?

This is the Plan B poster; Plan A couldn't be delivered in time.

[SomTumTiger]

The silence by the TV Red Shirts is palpable...

[Skywalker69]

The silence by the TV Red Shirts is palpable...

Shhy, don´t wake em´up?

[whybother]

The silence by the TV Red Shirts is palpable...

Shhy, don´t wake em´up?

No. Wake them up. I'd be quite interested in their view on this.

[maidu]

So what's the verdict.......is the laptop fiasco just a big con or just a fiasco?

Whichever way the PTP come over as either cheats or fools and sooner or later the Thai people may begin to notice.

Who says Thai people, particularly Issanites, don't like cheats and fools? If the promises are rosy enough, Thais will vote for the promisers. Too bad I'm not a Thai (with a U degree and VIP parents). I'd run for office, promise everyone in my district would get rich if they voted for me, and voila, I'd get elected.

As stated in many posts, the numerous flaws with the original plan seemed obvious to everybody (except the politicians involved). The fact that the plan has fallen on its proverbial face, doesn't surprise anybody (except maybe the politicians involved). However, what perplexes me is plan B. Giving textbooks to grade one students seems extremely logical and pretty necessary for the little tykes to learn their ABC's and 123's, but those involved make it sound like some new magical idea. So, at what grade do they usually start using books in Thai government schools?

I recall several years in a row when I went with some local hill tribers to town, to assist with buying books, clothes, shoes, backpacks for their young kids. All had to be brand new. 2nd hand or hand-me-down wasn't a consideration. The amount I paid to assist my neighbors would have been about 3 to 5 months' wages for them. It was sad how little the gov't assisted them. Perhaps it's a tad better now (if gov't pays for some things), but I would bet soceity demands everything (books, clothing, etc) be brand new retail.

Even in afluent US and European areas, kids are ok using 2nd hand books and wear hand-me-down clothes. Why do Thai schools insist everything has to be brand new?

[otherstuff1957]

As stated in many posts, the numerous flaws with the original plan seemed obvious to everybody (except the politicians involved). The fact that the plan has fallen on its proverbial face, doesn't surprise anybody (except maybe the politicians involved). However, what perplexes me is plan B. Giving textbooks to grade one students seems extremely logical and pretty necessary for the little tykes to learn their ABC's and 123's, but those involved make it sound like some new magical idea. So, at what grade do they usually start using books in Thai government schools?

Textbooks and workbooks for several subjects are available for every grade level in Thailand. In all but the poorest schools students will pay at least 200 - 300 baht per student per term for books, more for the older students. This means that the textbook industry generates up to 2.5 billion baht per year. Though, if some books are passed on from year to year the income may be less.

If paper books are replaced by ebooks, the whole textbook industry will have to change. Instead of printing books, they will have to license schools to use their ebooks. If this is done properly and honestly, no-one loses out except for the printers. However, what are the odds that school administrators will start getting bootleg copies of ebooks from other school administrators and pocketing the book budget? I can easily picture a situation 4 - 5 years from now where only a small percentage of schools actually buy ebook licenses and it becomes uneconomical for publishers to publish textbooks or writers to write them.

This situation can be avoided with proper MOE oversight and school administration and hopefully will be.

[animatic]

The silence by the TV Red Shirts is palpable...

Shhy, don´t wake em´up?

No. Wake them up. I'd be quite interested in their view on this.

In a word: Irrelevant.

Edited April 24, 2012 by animatic