Committee Tasked With Procuring Tablet Computers For Students: Thailand

[webfact]

Committee tasked with procuring tablet computers for students

Supinda na Mahachai

The Nation

A new committee will soon spring into action to procure tablets for students for the 2013 academic year.

newsjsBANGKOK: -- Representatives from the Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec) and the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) will play a key role in this committee.

"This new committee will also include representatives from eight other agencies," Obec secretary-general Chinnapat Bhumirat said on Thursday.

He was speaking after he emerged from a meeting with the policy committee for the One Tablet Per Child Project, which is the result of an election policy of the ruling Pheu Thai Party.

According to Chinnapat, it was agreed at the meeting that the new committee will be established to boost co-ordination among all relevant agencies and facilitate the procurement and distribution of the tablets.

Chinnapat said tablets would be procured for all Pathom 1 and Mathayom 1 students for use in the 2013 academic year, which will start in a few months.

"This new committee is going to draft the terms of reference [TOR] for the procurement soon. After the TOR are ready, the e-auctions will take place," Chinnapat said.

He expected the Cabinet to consider next Tuesday a proposal recommending that Obec organise four e-auctions for tablet procurement.

Two of the e-auctions are for tablets for Pathom 1 students, for which a budget of Bt2,720 per tablet has been set. The two others auctions will handle the tablets for Mathayom 1 students, with a per-tablet budget of Bt2,920. The devices for the older students will be bigger, with a screen width of eight inches. The younger students' devices will have a seven-inch-wide screen. Separate auctions are to be held for students in different zones. The Central region and the South are labelled as Zone 1. The North and Northeastern regions comprise Zone 2.

"The specifications will be better than those of the tablets bought last year," Surapon Nawamawat said in his capacity as an adviser to the ICT minister.

A total of 1,803,337 tablets will be bought via the e-auctions, which have a total budget of about Bt5 billion.

-- The Nation 2013-02-15

[apetley]

Only last week The Nation reported that all Grade 1 students had their tablets.

Now we have another article saying there will be a round of bidding for Grade 1 student tablets.

I wish the reporters would read their own newspaper!

[Locationthailand]

I think someone needs to be a little transparent here for the specs and what is on the tablets. If the kids have access to internet, then immediately the whole exercise needs some serious overseeing. I know from my kids and on their internet exploits, they easily find games and that defeats the whole purpose of the so called 'education'.

What is the curriculum being addressed by the use of tablets?

What is being done to teach the children to write"

A tablet takes away the motor skills of this as well as the ability to use one's mind for maths issues by use of a calculator.

It will speed up ability to search an answer and a result.

It will allow the brighter kids to move forward

But what are the checks and balances from the school teachers and how is that being monitored?

[hellodolly]

A new committee = a new vehicle for corruption.

[OzMick]

"Procuring" is a highly regarded and often used skill in Thailand.

[jbrain]

I always wonder why this government, it actually started with the red thufs already, have their promises and slogans always in big English script all over the place.

90% of what this government is composed of can't read English.

[cup-O-coffee]

Yeah right! Whatever! They've had 2556 years of paper and pen and it still hasn't gotten them anywhere. They might as well throw in some technological advances so they at least they put up good appearances; Thai style.

Going with my mantra of parents and guardians never being mentioned in the same article where children are concerned, I see it's holding true to course. Big Brother knows best.

[vijer]

What a joke. The specs and the supplier was supposedly set last year when they bought 1000 units or what ever the number was. And there was all kinds of talk about the rest of the units were going to ship very closely after the initial units. There was also an article not so long ago claiming the initials trials were a success. Now all of a sudden they need to form a committee to redo the whole process? If they were really a success there shouldn't be much to do.

On a side note, just bought a tablet for 2500 baht, wife was insistent on buying a cheap Chinese unit. For 2500 I figured it was just being pissed away but it goes a long way towards educating(you get what you pay for) a Thai wife. As expected it is a piece of sheit.

These things run slow as crap; booting is slow, opening a program is slow, closing a program is slow, internet is slow. The battery lasts about 4 hours and then needs about 10 hours to fully charge. The Android OS has been Chineseified, i.e. FUBAR. The build quality seems fairly good, but no iPad. The unit we bought didn't come with a charger, charge it from your computer we were told.

No doubt about it, the Thai's are just pissing money away. Oh what am I talking about, the new committee will surly all of a sudden be driving Mercedes and BMW's, not a complete waste of money.

[StefanBBK]

Yeah, what ever was the end of last years exercise? Did they not realize that they lacked education software?

I think the new school term is just three months away. Far to late to procure that many units.

Sent from my GT-P7500 using Thaivisa Connect App

[espinoza]

What grade of quality do this tablets bare ?

Who will repair them when something goes wrong ?

Is the support for free ?

Is this just a gigantic waste of money and prestigee ?

[xen]

Why can't they just spend the money on desktops and computer rooms at the school and have the use monitored by trained teachers just like when we were kids and had school libraries. Maybe the kids will not be able to ponce around with a desktop but for business skills and office skills a desktop will do fine and are easier to update when replacing components when the time comes.

[StefanBBK]

Why can't they just spend the money on desktops and computer rooms at the school and have the use monitored by trained teachers just like when we were kids and had school libraries. Maybe the kids will not be able to ponce around with a desktop but for business skills and office skills a desktop will do fine and are easier to update when replacing components when the time comes.

Not to forget the desktops could also be used by all school children, not only first graders....

Technology is great, but to better the education system perhaps there are other steps that should be taken first.

majority of Thai voters elected however the ones who promised to give each kid a tablet. Its a little bit like Christmas....

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Pimay1]

A new committee = a new vehicle for corruption.

Exactly. Now eight other agencies will be involved. Of course the trough is surely big enough for a few more piggies.

[muttley]

I always wonder why this government, it actually started with the red thufs already, have their promises and slogans always in big English script all over the place.

90% of what this government is composed of can't read English.

"90% of what this government is composed of can't read English."

[philw]

I always wonder why this government, it actually started with the red thufs already, have their promises and slogans always in big English script all over the place.

90% of what this government is composed of can't read English.

"90% of what this government is composed of can't read English."

Yeah, or write it proper..............

[Pimay1]

I always wonder why this government, it actually started with the red thufs already, have their promises and slogans always in big English script all over the place.

90% of what this government is composed of can't read English.

"90% of what this government is composed of can't read English."

Yeah, or write it proper..............

I think it was written properly.

[bigbamboo]

I always wonder why this government, it actually started with the red thufs already, have their promises and slogans always in big English script all over the place.

90% of what this government is composed of can't read English.

Sometimes you could be forgiven for thinking the government wanted to keep the red shirts in the dark.

[rubl]

I always wonder why this government, it actually started with the red thufs already, have their promises and slogans always in big English script all over the place.

90% of what this government is composed of can't read English.

Sometimes you could be forgiven for thinking the government wanted to keep the red shirts in the dark.

Some of the English is for foreign distribution, just propaganda. Easy and it doesn't bother Thai who can't read it. It's similar to the red-shirt's "Peaceful protesters, not terrorists', or maybe rather UDD's slogan

[hellodolly]

I think someone needs to be a little transparent here for the specs and what is on the tablets. If the kids have access to internet, then immediately the whole exercise needs some serious overseeing. I know from my kids and on their internet exploits, they easily find games and that defeats the whole purpose of the so called 'education'.

What is the curriculum being addressed by the use of tablets?

What is being done to teach the children to write"

A tablet takes away the motor skills of this as well as the ability to use one's mind for maths issues by use of a calculator.

It will speed up ability to search an answer and a result.

It will allow the brighter kids to move forward

But what are the checks and balances from the school teachers and how is that being monitored?

As you say it will allow the brighter kids to move forward but it will still take away the ability to add 2 +2 with out a calculator. I maintain wait until grade 2 or 3 before giving them the tablet. Let them learn to think with out mechanical means.

Much like tying there shoes they do not use aa machine for that those of them that wear them know how to tie them,

[hellodolly]

I always wonder why this government, it actually started with the red thufs already, have their promises and slogans always in big English script all over the place.

90% of what this government is composed of can't read English.

Sometimes you could be forgiven for thinking the government wanted to keep the red shirts in the dark.

I think it is in big English script for a very good reason. Short of the Nation that is the only other channel to reach the Thai Visa population.

Whether people realize it or not we the TV audience are very important to Yingluck we far more than any other group in the land can appreciate her in her Photo Op's.