Thailand Buys Chinese Tablet Computers For Schools

Innerpeace · May 19, 2012

_{When was the last time that Thai Gov really do sth for Thai children Edu? How the tablets will help Thai kids to learn better where we have most the teachers are not computer literate, Grade 6 students can't read. I saw in the pilot project that they made primary students write out name of fruit in that tablet, can't we write on the paper anymore? lots of chidren up hill and street children don't even have eletricity. A lot of people in rural area vote for this Gov but what they get in return? 15000 baht for bachelor? the majority of rural people don't have that. the only thing they got is the goods price rising.}

Buchholz · May 23, 2012

Mental Health Dept: Tablet PCs contribute to development of first graders

BANGKOK, 23 May 2012 (NNT) – With the distribution of tablet PCs to first-grade students scheduled for this school semester, the Mental Health Department has indicated that the proper use of the electronic devices will contribute to the children's development.

Mental Health Department Director-General Dr. Narong Sahamethapat said that a study on the development of early age children has revealed that 30% of first-grade students in Thailand are under-developed. Among this number, 10% suffer from learning disabilities while the remaining 20% suffer from development disorders, both of which can lead to a low IQ in early age children. Thus, he suggested that the development of first-grade students should be well-rounded in all areas, such as linguistics, writing, listening, waiting and sharing, among others.

Meanwhile, Mental Health Department Spokesperson Dr. Panpimol Vipulakorn said that one-third of the children in a classroom are already troubled with development disorders, in such skills as reading and writing. Thus, teachers and parents must closely supervise the appropriate use of tablet PCs once they are handed out to the students this semester.

With appropriate use, the tablet PCs will benefit the children’s development as children tend to remember more from their lessons if they enjoy it. However, teachers and parents should be cautious to prevent the use of tablet PCs from becoming an addiction while allocating time to develop other necessary skills in the children as well.

-- NNT 2012-05-23

Buchholz · May 23, 2012

2,000 PC tablets from China arrive for inspection

BANGKOK, 23 May 2012 (NNT) - Minister of Science and Technology Anudith Nakornthap has received 2,000 computer tablets for inspection. The first lot of 100,000 tablets for Thai students will arrive in June this year.

The 2,000 tablets were shipped to Thailand Wednesday morning by Shenzhen Scope Scientific Development Co., Ltd. via UPS Airlines. The tablets have been sent for intensive checks on specifications and details to see whether they meet the requirements set by the Thai government. Specialized engineers from the state-owned telecommunication firm TOT Plc. are expected to finish the inspection by 27 May 2012.

After the samples are approved, the Chinese supplier will begin its full production of the tablets. The first batch of 100,000 pieces will arrive in June and the rest of 300,000 will be here by 10 July 2012.

The Ministry of Education is responsible for distributing the device to academic institutions and students.

Mr. Anudith has expressed his confidence that the tablet project will have no problems.

-- NNT 2012-05-23

rubl · May 23, 2012

Specialized engineers from the state-owned telecommunication firm TOT Plc. are expected to finish the inspection by 27 May 2012.
After the samples are approved, the Chinese supplier will begin its full production of the tablets. The first batch of 100,000 pieces will arrive in June and the rest of 300,000 will be here by 10 July 2012.

2012-05-23: 2000 received for inspection

2012-05-27: finish inspection

I assume if inspection can finish on a Sunday, the report with (positive) results can be available that day as well

2012-05-28: official approval (formal document with signature/stamps to avoid problems), Chinese firm starts full production

2012-06-??: 100,000 delivered

2012-07-12: remaining 300,000 received now (or by now?)

Interesting schedule. Now if I were a betting man and if it wasn't against forum rules ... ...

Edited May 23, 2012 by rubl

rubl · May 24, 2012

Slight delay only, but of course no problem.

Thailand Live Thursday 24th of May #30

Posted Today, 10:56

ICT Ministry to complete checking of specification of tablets for 1st graders on Monday /TANN

Buchholz · May 24, 2012

School children to get tablet computers from June 7

The delivery of tablet computers for school children is ready, with the units to be handed to provinces in alphabetical order starting from June 7, Office of Basic Education Commission secretary-general Chinnapat Bhumirat said Thursday.

The first 2,000 units handed by manufacturers on Wednesday reported to have violated specifications will undergo an inspection, he said.

After the inspection, 1,000 units, regardless of specifications, will be given to 183 trainers who would study about the units and later train teachers to use them.

-- NNT 2012-05-24

siampolee · May 24, 2012

The first 2,000 units handed by manufacturers on Wednesday reported to have violated specifications will undergo an inspection, he said.
After the inspection, 1,000 units, regardless of specifications, will be given to 183 trainers who would study about the units and later train teachers to use them.

So the product is not to specification yet it is to be accepted flaws and all and then the trainers will start to train the teachers.

Hmm.

By virtue of the above we can then expect that the trainers and the teachers will also be technically erudite enough to handle and indeed cure any malfunctions in these tablets once the students have them ?

My experience of sub standard goods is that they are returned to the maker and properly functioning goods are returned.

Now why do the Thai government accept faulty goods one asks?

No doubt there will be a company set up by interested parties to solve these problems of malfunctioning tablets and I wonder what name or names will be behind that particular business scam scheme.?

siampolee · May 24, 2012

rubl # 184

Interesting schedule. Now if I were a betting man and if it wasn't against forum rules

Here is a present for you rubl..

Edited May 24, 2012 by siampolee

pipo1000 · May 29, 2012

Slight delay only, but of course no problem.

Thailand Live Thursday 24th of May #30

Posted Today, 10:56

ICT Ministry to complete checking of specification of tablets for 1st graders on Monday /TANN

So now we are Tuesday.Any news?

Buchholz · June 6, 2012

Specialized engineers from the state-owned telecommunication firm TOT Plc. are expected to finish the inspection by 27 May 2012.
After the samples are approved, the Chinese supplier will begin its full production of the tablets. The first batch of 100,000 pieces will arrive in June and the rest of 300,000 will be here by 10 July 2012.

2012-05-23: 2000 received for inspection

2012-05-27: finish inspection

I assume if inspection can finish on a Sunday, the report with (positive) results can be available that day as well

2012-05-28: official approval (formal document with signature/stamps to avoid problems), Chinese firm starts full production

2012-06-??: 100,000 delivered

2012-07-12: remaining 300,000 received now (or by now?)

Interesting schedule. Now if I were a betting man and if it wasn't against forum rules ... ...

a little late on the official approval, but I'm sure they are getting quite close to the 100,000 delivered point....

105 tablet computers ready for delivery

The first few tablet computers for school children are ready for official delivery Thursday, the Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec) said in a statement Wednesday.

A ceremony will be held at 1.30pm Thursday at Government House, where 105 units will be delivered to teachers and students.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will be at hand to provide tutorials.

The units will be delivered to education offices in the Regional Office 1 grouping in each province alphabetically, followed by the Regional Office 2 grouping and so on once ShenZhen Scope Scientific Development delivers the first lot of 400,000 units.

The first lot of devices will be delivered 60 days after the contract was signed on May 10, followed by 600,000 units 30 days later. There are some 183 education offices across the country.

-- The Nation 2012-06-06

rubl · June 6, 2012

"some unintelligible noise". Please excuse my confusion.

On the 23rd of May 2000 units were received for inspection and check on confirmation to standard agreed upon in the contract (right?). Now on the 6th of June 105 units are [found in order | put in order | other option] (pick one only) and will tomorrow be handed out to teachers and P1 students alike in undoubtedly a really fascinating photo-op with PM Yingluck.

Probably only to 'prove' what was said on May 24:

"The delivery of tablet computers for school children is ready, with the units to be handed to provinces in alphabetical order starting from June 7, Office of Basic Education Commission secretary-general Chinnapat Bhumirat said Thursday."

Now what about 'full production will start after acceptance of first 2000'. Where those formally accepted with a legally binding approval from MoE ? The May 23rd item indicated only 400,000 ordered for now deliverable in batches of 100,000 this month, 300,000 before July 12.

On May 10 (start of topic!) we had 'Thai Govt signed MoU', '400,000 tablet PCs worth altogether 32 million US dollars' and 'company will have to deliver the tablets within 60 days after the signing'. Maybe this was meant as after Chinese company signing'? When did the Chinse company sign?

On May 14 we had 'MoI finalised purchase of 800,000 tablets', May 23 'deliverable 100,000 plus 300,00 more before July 12'

If the government would spent just a wee bit more time in clearly, consistently communication what the heck they're doing, that would help greatly.

pipo1000 · June 6, 2012

Specialized engineers from the state-owned telecommunication firm TOT Plc. are expected to finish the inspection by 27 May 2012.
After the samples are approved, the Chinese supplier will begin its full production of the tablets. The first batch of 100,000 pieces will arrive in June and the rest of 300,000 will be here by 10 July 2012.

2012-05-23: 2000 received for inspection

2012-05-27: finish inspection

I assume if inspection can finish on a Sunday, the report with (positive) results can be available that day as well

2012-05-28: official approval (formal document with signature/stamps to avoid problems), Chinese firm starts full production

2012-06-??: 100,000 delivered

2012-07-12: remaining 300,000 received now (or by now?)

Interesting schedule. Now if I were a betting man and if it wasn't against forum rules ... ...

a little late on the official approval, but I'm sure they are getting quite close to the 100,000 delivered point....

105 tablet computers ready for delivery

The first few tablet computers for school children are ready for official delivery Thursday, the Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec) said in a statement Wednesday.

A ceremony will be held at 1.30pm Thursday at Government House, where 105 units will be delivered to teachers and students.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will be at hand to provide tutorials.

The units will be delivered to education offices in the Regional Office 1 grouping in each province alphabetically, followed by the Regional Office 2 grouping and so on once ShenZhen Scope Scientific Development delivers the first lot of 400,000 units.

The first lot of devices will be delivered 60 days after the contract was signed on May 10, followed by 600,000 units 30 days later. There are some 183 education offices across the country.

-- The Nation 2012-06-06

I guess they exceeded the quota of delivery already with 5 units as they mistakenly used the wrong punctuation mark in the original statement.

It was supposed to read as 100.00 delivered in June and hopefully 300.00 in July.

Edited June 6, 2012 by pipo1000

letitbe · June 6, 2012

There was actually a Thai company offering to supply tablets for this project at $78, cheaper than Scope. Unfortunately they were disqualified because it was supposed to be government to government contract with China, Thais don't need apply. As it happened, the govt-to-govt clause was scrapped after Scope won the auction and no one wanted to hear about that Thai company meddling in serious business again. Oh well, they've won the contract to supply tablets to Lao government instead...

Another interesting thing is that the budget for this project increased as negotiations were dragging on. Everybody assumed that it means Thailand will buy more tablets so what's the harm, but while this part might be true, the actual outcome is not - more tablets doesn't mean more kids will get them, it means Thailand is buying lots of spares to serve the same number or students. While per tablet cost is still $82, the cost per child increased and no one noticed.

Yet another point is that the govt didn't sign a contract for 900,000 tablets, it signed the contract for only about half, and it made this decision in the last minute. Why?

Initially the govt also needed a 30% bank guarantee but then changed it to 5% and when Scope couldn't provide that the govt had to wait for several weeks.

And then there's Education Minister Suchart lurking in the background with his own project to buy tablets for Matayom 1 students. He wants the current Scopad to fail miserably so that ICT ministry that handles it never gets anywhere near Education money again. Then Suchart will go on a buying spree to provide the other ten million children all by himself.

These are all interesting question but we live in a country where no one notices that this is actually One Tablet per One in Ten Children scheme, so who cares about finer details...

you seem to believe the things will work at all or if they do anything will last more than a few months. Ill lay odds it will be one of biggest fiascos ever but if im wrong ill be really happy that Thai kids get some advantage same as our kids who have theIpad decent computers and the rest.

Buchholz · June 6, 2012

"some unintelligible noise". Please excuse my confusion.

On the 23rd of May 2000 units were received for inspection and check on confirmation to standard agreed upon in the contract (right?). Now on the 6th of June 105 units are [found in order | put in order | other option] (pick one only) and will tomorrow be handed out to teachers and P1 students alike in undoubtedly a really fascinating photo-op with PM Yingluck.

I'm curious about what's behind the 2,000 units they received two weeks ago... and they're distributing only 105 today.

Does that mean 1,895 of the 2,000 units are defective?

Or is it so difficult to check out if a tablet works or not that it take 2 weeks to check out just 105 units? If so, at that rate how long will take to check out the remaining 1,895 units from the initial batch? How long to check out the remaining hundreds of thousands units still to arrive?

Or were 1,895 of the 2,000 units simply diverted to other people AKA stolen?

.

Edited June 6, 2012 by Buchholz

Buchholz · June 6, 2012

There was actually a Thai company offering to supply tablets for this project at $78, cheaper than Scope. Unfortunately they were disqualified because it was supposed to be government to government contract with China, Thais don't need apply. As it happened, the govt-to-govt clause was scrapped after Scope won the auction and no one wanted to hear about that Thai company meddling in serious business again. Oh well, they've won the contract to supply tablets to Lao government instead...

Another interesting thing is that the budget for this project increased as negotiations were dragging on. Everybody assumed that it means Thailand will buy more tablets so what's the harm, but while this part might be true, the actual outcome is not - more tablets doesn't mean more kids will get them, it means Thailand is buying lots of spares to serve the same number or students. While per tablet cost is still $82, the cost per child increased and no one noticed.

Yet another point is that the govt didn't sign a contract for 900,000 tablets, it signed the contract for only about half, and it made this decision in the last minute. Why?

Initially the govt also needed a 30% bank guarantee but then changed it to 5% and when Scope couldn't provide that the govt had to wait for several weeks.

And then there's Education Minister Suchart lurking in the background with his own project to buy tablets for Matayom 1 students. He wants the current Scopad to fail miserably so that ICT ministry that handles it never gets anywhere near Education money again. Then Suchart will go on a buying spree to provide the other ten million children all by himself.

These are all interesting question but we live in a country where no one notices that this is actually One Tablet per One in Ten Children scheme, so who cares about finer details...

There was actually a Thai company offering to supply tablets for this project at $78, cheaper than Scope. Unfortunately they were disqualified because it was supposed to be government to government contract with China, Thais don't need apply. As it happened, the govt-to-govt clause was scrapped after Scope won the auction and no one wanted to hear about that Thai company meddling in serious business again. Oh well, they've won the contract to supply tablets to Lao government instead...

Another interesting thing is that the budget for this project increased as negotiations were dragging on. Everybody assumed that it means Thailand will buy more tablets so what's the harm, but while this part might be true, the actual outcome is not - more tablets doesn't mean more kids will get them, it means Thailand is buying lots of spares to serve the same number or students. While per tablet cost is still $82, the cost per child increased and no one noticed.

Yet another point is that the govt didn't sign a contract for 900,000 tablets, it signed the contract for only about half, and it made this decision in the last minute. Why?

Initially the govt also needed a 30% bank guarantee but then changed it to 5% and when Scope couldn't provide that the govt had to wait for several weeks.

And then there's Education Minister Suchart lurking in the background with his own project to buy tablets for Matayom 1 students. He wants the current Scopad to fail miserably so that ICT ministry that handles it never gets anywhere near Education money again. Then Suchart will go on a buying spree to provide the other ten million children all by himself.

These are all interesting question but we live in a country where no one notices that this is actually One Tablet per One in Ten Children scheme, so who cares about finer details...

you seem to believe the things will work at all or if they do anything will last more than a few months. Ill lay odds it will be one of biggest fiascos ever but if im wrong ill be really happy that Thai kids get some advantage same as our kids who have the Ipad decent computers and the rest.

Hopefully, out of the 2,000 received, the 105 units Yingluck is distributing today will work.

.

Buchholz · June 6, 2012

"some unintelligible noise". Please excuse my confusion.

On the 23rd of May 2000 units were received for inspection and check on confirmation to standard agreed upon in the contract (right?). Now on the 6th of June 105 units are [found in order | put in order | other option] (pick one only) and will tomorrow be handed out to teachers and P1 students alike in undoubtedly a really fascinating photo-op with PM Yingluck.

I'm curious about what's behind the 2,000 units they received two weeks ago... and they're distributing only 105 today.

Does that mean 1,895 of the 2,000 units are defective?

Or is it so difficult to check out if a tablet works or not that it take 2 weeks to check out just 105 units? If so, at that rate how long will take to check out the remaining 1,895 units from the initial batch? How long to check out the remaining hundreds of thousands units still to arrive?

Or were 1,895 of the 2,000 units simply diverted to other people AKA stolen?

Seems to be partly due to the first inclination....

the first 2,000 units delivered to the Education Ministry did not pass the specifications

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/105-tablet-computers-ready-for-delivery-30183655.html

metisdead · June 7, 2012

A nonsense baiting post intending to incite useless arguments has been removed.

Buchholz · June 7, 2012

A ceremony will be held at 1.30pm Thursday at Government House, where 105 units will be delivered to teachers and students.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will be at hand to provide tutorials.

The units will be delivered to education offices in the Regional Office 1 grouping in each province alphabetically

First up then will be the beautiful, but often-ignored, far-flung changwat of Amnat Charoen.

Good to see they receive something first for the first time.

Shame it's only gonna be a couple of dubious tablets.

.

metisdead · June 7, 2012

Off topic posts removed.

Siripon · June 7, 2012

A ceremony will be held at 1.30pm Thursday at Government House, where 105 units will be delivered to teachers and students.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will be at hand to provide tutorials.

The units will be delivered to education offices in the Regional Office 1 grouping in each province alphabetically

First up then will be the beautiful, but often-ignored, far-flung changwat of Amnat Charoen.

Good to see they receive something first for the first time.

Shame it's only gonna be a couple of dubious tablets.

.

In the Thai alphabet Amnart Charoen is near the end, Bangkok is first.

Buchholz · June 7, 2012

A ceremony will be held at 1.30pm Thursday at Government House, where 105 units will be delivered to teachers and students.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will be at hand to provide tutorials.

The units will be delivered to education offices in the Regional Office 1 grouping in each province alphabetically

First up then will be the beautiful, but often-ignored, far-flung changwat of Amnat Charoen.

Good to see they receive something first for the first time.

Shame it's only gonna be a couple of dubious tablets.

.

In the Thai alphabet Amnart Charoen is near the end, Bangkok is first.

ah yes. of course. thank you.

Sorry, Amnart Charoen, you'll have to keep waiting to be first for the first time.

.

Robby nz · June 7, 2012

Havent read through all the pages but was wondering how all these are to be paid for?

Possibly an account with a large sum of money deposited set up somewhere in a tax haven country, might even start with 'D'.

Then the supplier, transport, delivery and all the other things that have to be considered like those in need can be paid out.

Little neice has been promised one, 5 yrs old, dont know what she will use it for.

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