No Deal On Computer Tablets, Thai Education Ministry Prepares Textbooks

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I doubt buying the tablets as planned was going to be a good (or the best) use of limited government funds for students and education here.

But that aside, all this above is a sadly predictable result from the current crop of cons... There are many other Chinese tablet manufacturers of course, but no mention in the news report above of whether the Thai government, after having a problem with its initial supplier, is going to consider alternative bidders/suppliers.

But on a more basic point, have I missed something? Did anyone in authority ever explain how the kids in the couple thousand Thai schools that have NO electricity were supposed to be using/charging those tablets in their classrooms? I saw the issue raised, but I never heard any answer to it.

[pipo1000]

Wise minds on TV saw this coming a long time ago..........

Thank you for the compliments.

http://www.thaivisa....d/#entry5195079

pipo1000

Posted 2012-04-06 08:52:34

Remember my post from a monthe ago

Posted 2012-03-18 10:30:05

Watch my words, they will delay and delay this project untill they find the perfect excuse to cancel the whole project.

My bet is on a quality issue.

http://www.thaivisa....ost__p__5143495

We're getting closer and closer to that stage of the fake election promises program.

Edited April 24, 2012 by pipo1000

[Buchholz]

I doubt buying the tablets as planned was going to be a good (or the best) use of limited government funds for students and education here.

But that aside, all this above is a sadly predictable result from the current crop of cons... There are many other Chinese tablet manufacturers of course, but no mention in the news report above of whether the Thai government, after having a problem with its initial supplier, is going to consider alternative bidders/suppliers.

But on a more basic point, have I missed something? Did anyone in authority ever explain how the kids in the couple thousand Thai schools that have NO electricity were supposed to be using/charging those tablets in their classrooms? I saw the issue raised, but I never heard any answer to it.

that was sorted out last January

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.

[belg]

they can go back to : one laptop per child... more use than a tablet, no?

in africa, they even have ones where you need some exercise to pump in some electricity by hand...as most schools and the family huts or slums don't have electricity ...

another failed promise

if i was in the politics, i would promote following next election : free motorcycle or cars for everyone between now and 2114

[louse1953]

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.

They are not stupid,cunning is a word that springs to mind.The Dems will be back in by the time they sort out who gets what with hi-speed rail.I doubt i'll see it and i'm only 58.

[Thaddeus]

Meanwhile, there's tumble weed rolling through the red camp and the haunting sound of a flute.

[lujanit]

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.

This is the sort of statement that obviously is 'shooting from the mouth while the brain is dis-engaged'. Just plain crap. ALL Apple products are designed by Apple in California not by any Chinese firm. Jony Ive should seriously be offended by the design statement of this diatribe. As to the glass used in iPhones, called Gorilla Glass, it was invented by Corning Glass, a USA company in the 1960's. It took Corning 6 months to restart the manufacture of Gorilla Glass as it was not at that time being produced.

EDIT: The glass was manufactured in Harrisburg, Kentucky, which as far as I understand is in the US and not in China.

Edited April 24, 2012 by lujanit

[GentlemanJim]

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.

I don't hear anyone calling the Government stupid. However, manipulating, crooked, callous, heartless, un-patriotic, greedy, elitist.......thats about it!

[swillowbee]

Sadly, the same sorts of promises will be trotted out for the next election campaign, and the next, and the next. It worked for TRT, and for PPP, and now for PT. Just as long as enough Thai voters stay as gullible as their predecessors, similar election promises will work to garner votes....

.

... keeping Thais gullible is all predicated on keeping them uninformed, which relies upon keeping them uneducated ... the small number of entitled Thais who for generations dominate and passify the Thai people have for a Royal Ministry of Education, a highly tuned brain and motivation killing machine ... a very, very important part to their continued feudal reign ... it works beautifully for them ... (and, hey! ... it is also a great money spinner for the Thai crooks running this nation).

Edited April 24, 2012 by swillowbee

[ginjag]

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

[pacovl46]

It was all just make-believe from the get-go to get voters. It's not gonna happen.

[Arkady]

"But we have a Plan B. We will rush to ensure that textbooks reach the students' hands before the new semester begins," Education Minister Suchart Tadathamrongvej said yesterday."

Given the competing need to squeeze the Chinese supplier for the lowest price and the politicians' desparation to overstate that price in order to add on their own margins to be stashed overseas, this was always going to be an unsightly tussle with an unsatisfactory end. I can't wait for

Episode 2: The tablets arrive many months behind schedule with copious defects

Episode 3: The Chinese supplier refuses to honour the guarantees, claiming that they are now out of pocket due to the bribes they had to pay to Thai politicians to secure the contract.

Episode 4: Thai primary schools nationwide admit that the tablets are unusable due to: so many defects, tablets lost or broken by students or sold by their parents; a total lack of meaningful content; inadequate connectibility; and students with still usable tablets preponderance to spend all their time playing mindless computer games or, following the example of their MPs, viewing pornography online .

Episode 5: The red shirts announce that the tablets were actually Abhisit's idea. Pheua Thai launches a new winning campaign slogan, "One student, one textbook, no wi-fi" which results in yet another astounding landslide electoral victory.

[louse1953]

At least textbooks won't require the school to have an electricity-supply or wi-fi, in order to work.

Meanwhile the words 'piss-up, brewery, couldn't & organise' seem appriopriate.

At least (I presume) the children will be able to take the books home to further study, unlike the tablet plan were they would have to leave them in the school after classes.

When I read that was the idea, that children couldn't take the tablets home to learn on their own is when I completely lost faith in this proposal, at least on their own children have a chance but constrained by the flawed (to put it mildly) teaching methods it's useless, they may just as well use a book to read the day's lesson.

If you give children the opportunity to explore and learn on their own more often than not they will do it, they are wired to learn and experience. I once watched a TED talk about an "experiment" some institute carried on in some village in the middle of nowhere, they installed a computer with access to Internet, looking kind of like an ATM, and simply let children figure it out. The results were amazing, for example children learning English on their own so they could read the things they liked.

How long do you rekon they would stay at home,pi sow would borrow to show friends,bye bye.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

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

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

[Moruya]

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.

It's not a question of stupidity - it's one of being elected on a series of promises that were broken

[ginjag]

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

[jcw]

"The kick back would have been concluded before Scope even got to the table and some of it will have been paid. Chinese aren't stupid though and this import tax that was hidden until the last minute must have been the final straw."

Can someone explain this hidden tax surprise a bit more please ?

On another note, this whole thing is almost SATIRE !!!!

Edited April 24, 2012 by jcw

[Moruya]

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.

[draftvader]

"We will release the findings in easy-to-understand language to the public in early May," Chalermchai said.

With the education standards as they are, following the constant "sideways" investment, I think these findings might need to be in picture form.

[Nakonamath]

Funny enough, our contacts in the tablet business in china say, the thai goverment havent given any conclusive answers, as the supplier are more than willing to communicate to secure the huge order.

[Thaddeus]

I wonder how long it will be before an empty suit with a chest full of meals declares this a success.

[webfact]

Education Minister: Tablet PCs may not be ready for first semester

BANGKOK, 24 April 2012 (NNT) - The Education Minister is not confident that the tablet PCs will be available for students in time for the first semester of 2012; however, model devices will be prepared for the training of teachers.

Education Minister Suchart Thadathamrongvej has indicated that the tablet PCs for Prathom One students may not be acquired in time for the start of the new academic year and might affect the learning process of children. In the meantime, books will be distributed to students as learning materials alongside the use of electronic devices. The ministry will make enquiries on the matter to the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) which is responsible for the acquisition of the tablet PCs. However, if the devices fail to be delivered on schedule, the ministry will purchase a sufficient number of tablets PCs sold in Thailand for the purpose of training teachers.

Meanwhile, the proposed 500 million-baht budget for 2013 will focus on "book coupons" to promote reading among poor children. The 300-baht coupons, which can be redeemed for books at bookstores, will be distributed to 2.5 million underprivileged children, hilltribe children and foreign children born in Thailand, studying in Prathom One to Prathom Six. It is expected that the policy will be carried out continuously for the next 2-3 years. Mr. Suchart explained that the coupon distribution will be carried out under a limited budget and is intended for poor children to cultivate the passion for reading among them.

-- NNT 2012-04-24

[Gulfsailor]

"The kick back would have been concluded before Scope even got to the table and some of it will have been paid. Chinese aren't stupid though and this import tax that was hidden until the last minute must have been the final straw."

Can someone explain this hidden tax surprise a bit more please ?

On another note, this whole thing is almost SATIRE !!!!

This is something I also do not understand. Tablet computers have customs HS code of 84714120. 0% duties are applicable upon import into Thailand from China...

Edited April 24, 2012 by Gulfsailor

[Buchholz]

However, if the devices fail to be delivered on schedule, the ministry will purchase a sufficient number of tablets PCs sold in Thailand for the purpose of training teachers.

Wonderful. Dump even more of taxapayers' money into this quagmire of scamming government trough-feeders.

.

[whybother]

However, if the devices fail to be delivered on schedule, the ministry will purchase a sufficient number of tablets PCs sold in Thailand for the purpose of training teachers.

Wonderful. Dump even more of taxapayers' money into this quagmire of scamming government trough-feeders.

They will train teachers on different tablets, then they can train them again on the actual tablets. That way they can take a cut twice.

[zaq1]

NB: The government 'protecting people??' The masses might assume that, maybe...but anyone with sense arranges their lives and affairs, getting and staying as far away from govt as possible.

[ratcatcher]

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.

'Where's your slate boy?'

Sounds like you studied under the tutelage of Mr Squeers at Dotheboys?

[Maria23]

What a circus! It was expected to happen like this as it's so typical Thai politicians style in giving promises but not being able to deliver as per their words! Sad for those kids who hoping to have something new to learn on and very frustrating for the parents who gave their vote to those who made such promises.

[ianf]

With their (almost) unbelievably naive schedule for getting these devices in place it is hardly surprising that it hasn't happened. Perhaps they should have got a few of the smarter Prathom 1 students to have done the planning and procurement as a school project - lets face it, they could hardly be more naive than the current planners... and probably much better!

What was the slogan for Phue Thai?

Thaksin Acts Before he Thinks. Or was it Thaksin Thinks but Doesn't Think Through?

Thaksin's election bribery was far more important than any realistic process which goes to show how thick this man really is.

[Docno]

Love the TV cynicism. In fact, a number of developing countries such as Peru (over 1 million laptops to kids) and Uruguay have implemented similar policies and there have always been hiccups. In one case (Peru?) 1000s of units went up in flames in a warehouse fire. New Delhi has recently distributed 100,000 tablets to kids, and initial reports were that the were defective/unworkable, but more recently this has been shown to be untrue. Projects of this size are always a challenge, and even more so in developing countries where you have to deal with infrastructure and corruption issues. But this story isn't over yet. It looks like a mess now, but these sorts of things have been overcome in other places.

Anyway, show me a government that manages to keep all of its election promises, especially in the first year. Last time I checked, Guantanamo was still operating...