Yingluck seeks to recruit tech students to repair tablets, teach kids

[webfact]

PM seeks to recruit tech students to repair tablets, teach kids
Jeerapong Prasertpolkrang
The Nation
Phetchabun



BANGKOK: -- CARETAKER Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra wants technology colleges to send students to schools to repair PC tablets and teach children how to use the devices and their applications, and has also urged the Higher Education and Basic Education commissions to integrate their education-reform works.

"This [getting technology students involved in the tablet project] would be a constructive activity for the technical students and bridge the instructor-student age gap regarding teaching of this topic," she said.

Consideration should also be given to extending the free tablets to Prathom 2, besides Prathom 1, and increasing the budget for the project, she said.

During a meeting on the computer tablet project in Phetchabun's Khao Khor district yesterday, Apichart Jeerawuth, secretary-general of the Basic Education Commission, said a new batch of tablets with better specifications would be distributed to Prathom 1 kids in May and June.

Over 92.5 per cent of teachers surveyed said the tablets boosted students' development. However, teachers over 55 still fumbled with the subject, so those who graduated with a technology degree stepped in to help teach the pupils on this topic instead.

Some repair centres have relocated without notifying schools and the cost of repairing tablets was sometimes too high. Schools were also facing a teacher shortage in some provinces such as Uttaradit, Chaiyaphum and Sing Buri, he said.

Yingluck suggested that the project let content production houses develop educational apps for free in return for them showing their logos.


-- The Nation 2013-12-25

[JRSoul]

If this is not an admission of failure of the tablet scam, what is it? Where is the warranty, the contracted repair service, and how does a tech student increase battery life?

[JoeThePoster]

Stand by for the worlds first tablet gun.

[edwinchester]

'Consideration should also be given to extending the free tablets to Prathom 2'.

Wasn't the pledge one tablet for every child?

At our local village school even the Prathom 1 students haven't received one yet.

Sent from my GT-I9003 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Edited December 25, 2013 by edwinchester

[Bluespunk]

More utter nonsense coming from yingluck. I'm assuming this was an unscripted, spur of the moment policy statement. Repair centres disappearing? Send in students to do a job they may not be capable of rather than ensure there are centres. Teachers not sure about using tablets? Send in students who are not trained to teach or guide the student's educational use of tablets, rather than have inset for teachers that will enable them to incorporate tablets into their teaching.

Edited December 25, 2013 by Bluespunk

[rheinwiese]

Arai wa??

[h90]

'Consideration should also be given to extending the free tablets to Prathom 2'. Wasn't the pledge one tablet for every child? At our local village school even the Prathom 1 students haven't received one yet. Sent from my GT-I9003 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

And I remember before the election they showed iPads (or was it Samsung, can't recall) and not cheapo Chinese noname tablets.

[JRSoul]

More utter nonsense coming from yingluck. I'm assuming this was an unscripted, spur of the moment policy statement. Repair centres disappearing? Send in students to do a job they may not be capable of rather than ensure there are centres. Teachers not sure about using tablets? Send in students who are not trained to teach or guide the student's educational use of tablets, rather than have inset for teachers that will enable them to incorporate tablets into their teaching.

Like the increase in rice pledging price from B15,000 to 20,000. A real case of "DILLIGAF, it's not my money!"

[tominbkk]

'Consideration should also be given to extending the free tablets to Prathom 2'. Wasn't the pledge one tablet for every child? At our local village school even the Prathom 1 students haven't received one yet. Sent from my GT-I9003 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

And I remember before the election they showed iPads (or was it Samsung, can't recall) and not cheapo Chinese noname tablets.

They were showing off 10 inch Samsungs and full iPads. I remember those pics very well.

[Yunla]

So instead of buying higher quality tabs that worked, or just buying masses of new books / classrooms etc. she bought stacks of junk tablets then gets tech students to interrupt their critical education years to go fix her tabs she bought from Del Boy Trotter.

[Roadman]

I think it is logical policy in the light of the tablets launch that was rather clumsy. The system is already in place so fix the main problem with those to date which is what she is prescribing now with the correct people to maintain and teach. Education policy 1st offer from Yingluck is sensible and logical. Round 1 on the way to the polls to Yingluck...oh and the Dem's are where???

[monkey4u]

It wont work!

The tech students are too busy shooting each other

[JRSoul]

I think it is logical policy in the light of the tablets launch that was rather clumsy. The system is already in place so fix the main problem with those to date which is what she is prescribing now with the correct people to maintain and teach. Education policy 1st offer from Yingluck is sensible and logical. Round 1 on the way to the polls to Yingluck...oh and the Dem's are where???

Really? If i was a tech student I might not be too thrilled to add to my workload repairing tablets, work which otherwise be done by my future employer. I hope the students are old enough to vote, and the other voters are smart enough to recognise a cheap band-aid fix when they see one.

[Yunla]

I still think "one tab per kid" was purely for show, as a pro-PTP statement but also to show other nations what Thailand can do. However, I don't see why it was needed. A classroom with one or two decent PC's would be better, and the extra leftover money could be spent on books, electrics, roofing in schools etc. Getting kids to use PC's at school is very important, but you can have a few per class, and just buy loads of new books instead of personal tabs.

Re; the tech students fixing the problem, its a nice idea in a sort of woolly way, but again they would be better off spending their time studying to excel in their chosen fields.

[tominbkk]

I think it is logical policy in the light of the tablets launch that was rather clumsy. The system is already in place so fix the main problem with those to date which is what she is prescribing now with the correct people to maintain and teach. Education policy 1st offer from Yingluck is sensible and logical. Round 1 on the way to the polls to Yingluck...oh and the Dem's are where???

Total failure. How can they proceed with a policy like this when there are many schools in TH without even electricity? I've had the privilege to help out in some upcountry schools and man is it a bare bones operation. Horrible populist policy that has real education of the children as a very very low priority.

[Roadman]

More utter nonsense coming from yingluck. I'm assuming this was an unscripted, spur of the moment policy statement. Repair centres disappearing? Send in students to do a job they may not be capable of rather than ensure there are centres. Teachers not sure about using tablets? Send in students who are not trained to teach or guide the student's educational use of tablets, rather than have inset for teachers that will enable them to incorporate tablets into their teaching.

I think you may be underestimating the techo savy of Thai teenagers especially some of the guys. Some of the ones that I see repair phones and electronics themselves without relying on anything but parts.

OK the implement was a disaster but if smart teen early adult kids can spend part of their off course holiday time (same as they do for Monk hood but far less time and with freedom) repairing and tag teamed with teachers to show them basic skills, and earn some money to pay for their tuition then that seems a good band aid move. That is a quick fix from the bottom up but the Education system during overall reform (like is that really going to happen? Yingluck or do we get another new Education Minister in 6 months) also needs adjustments made from the top down so that qualified techo teachers step into that role as they become available. Some or a lot I suspect will come from these proposed students.

[ginjag]

I think it is logical policy in the light of the tablets launch that was rather clumsy. The system is already in place so fix the main problem with those to date which is what she is prescribing now with the correct people to maintain and teach. Education policy 1st offer from Yingluck is sensible and logical. Round 1 on the way to the polls to Yingluck...oh and the Dem's are where???

Prevention better than cure, after 2 and a half years only 50% given out--some pledge, vote catcher for sure.

It all was so superbly organized from day one. NOT Disgusting -total waste of money on crap goods. (initial idea and thought not bad) idiot implementation.

[bubba]

Meanwhile, Turkey is planning on buying in buying up to 13.1 million iPads for their students. And iPads come with warranties.

http://www.electronista.com/articles/13/12/24/initiative.long.in.development/

And by way of comparitive priorities , Turkey already has electricity and desks for the students in all their schools.

[scorecard]

So in reality:

- Structured repair facilities / processes are not really organized. Were there repair

contracts in place, with agreed fees for repairs? if so, have the repair vendors simply

ignored these contracts. Or perhaps nobody bothered to put something like this in

place. Photo ops are done, who cares about anything ongoing attitude.

- Many teachers over 55 fumble with these machines and other people have to be

brought in to teach the students when they want to use the tablets. So what if the

'others' are not available? What about when the teacher decides on the spot to use

the tablet for a few minutes? Well done education ministry.

- As already said a million times, tablets are all very well if the various foundations

of modern methods of teaching and learning are in place and well established. The

sad truth is that these pillars are not in place at all and there is no discussion or action

to put them in place.

Again and again there is strong criticism of the poor results coming out of the

current education system. Students cannot analyze, cannot think, etc. And never mind

that the AEC start up is just around the corner.

A recent example, my family went to a local restaurant (medium prices), with some

old friends from Singapore and their kids. Our kids / their kids all ordered ice cream.

It came in small bowls with the straight 1cm wide wooden sticks you sometimes see

in coffee shops in replacement for a spoon. Coffee came for all the adults.

I asked the waitress (probably 18 - 19 yrs old) for proper ice cream spoons for the kids.

Response: 'don't have'. So I held up a metal spoon which came with the coffee.

Response: 'that's' a coffee spoon', so I asked for the same spoons for the kids

for the ice cream, mentioning that any small spoon was OK. Response:

'cannot, we don't have ice cream spoons'.

Edited December 25, 2013 by scorecard

[scorecard]

I think it is logical policy in the light of the tablets launch that was rather clumsy. The system is already in place so fix the main problem with those to date which is what she is prescribing now with the correct people to maintain and teach. Education policy 1st offer from Yingluck is sensible and logical. Round 1 on the way to the polls to Yingluck...oh and the Dem's are where???

Really? If i was a tech student I might not be too thrilled to add to my workload repairing tablets, work which otherwise be done by my future employer. I hope the students are old enough to vote, and the other voters are smart enough to recognise a cheap band-aid fix when they see one.

One would assume that the tech college boys would be paid. So is this organized properly or is the head raking off? You decide.

Edited December 25, 2013 by scorecard

[bino]

This is probably a classic example of her independent thinking- without a phone call to big brother first.

[PeterSmiles]

During a meeting on the computer tablet project in Phetchabun's Khao Khor district yesterday, Apichart Jeerawuth, secretary-general of the Basic Education Commission, said a new batch of tablets with better specifications would be distributed to Prathom 1 kids in May and June.

I see Yingluck is very busy these days making election promises.

I assume the tablets that will be delivered in May next year will be the ones that were supposed to be delivered May this year.

[slapout]

The PM even in her and the PT's strongholds is being questioned as to the failures of the promised programs. This is not in the script, nor were those pesky whistle blowers. She has to either get someone to write a script for these unforseen hard questions, continue to do what she does best, give the canned response, " I assigned someone else to handle this", contact them, or align herself with knowledgeable people who can inform her as to the concerns, problems, etc that the Thai people are experiencing on a day to day attempt to find "that promised land", that she promised them for their votes.

[appwill]

Sorry, I'm a bit new to the scene on this one. Does anyone have contact information for the group/department that's coordinating this?

Thanks,

[whybother]

Sorry, I'm a bit new to the scene on this one. Does anyone have contact information for the group/department that's coordinating this?

Thanks,

Is anyone actually coordinating this?

I think there were a few fights over who was going to control it - Education Department, ICT Department, probably a couple of other departments that wanted their piece of the action as well.

[ginjag]

Sorry, I'm a bit new to the scene on this one. Does anyone have contact information for the group/department that's coordinating this?

Thanks,

Is anyone actually coordinating this?

I think there were a few fights over who was going to control it - Education Department, ICT Department, probably a couple of other departments that wanted their piece of the action as well.

COORDINATION is not a word recognized by this government. corruption YES

[appwill]

I'd like to get involved with this program or something like it. But I'm not sure who to contact so I can get a work permit to volunteer.

Technology like this at such a young age is very important. I have resources (time, money, network) to make an impact, but just not the work permit to actually do anything

[Rorri]

Bluespunk, on 25 Dec 2013 - 07:56, said:

More utter nonsense coming from yingluck. I'm assuming this was an unscripted, spur of the moment policy statement. Repair centres disappearing? Send in students to do a job they may not be capable of rather than ensure there are centres. Teachers not sure about using tablets? Send in students who are not trained to teach or guide the student's educational use of tablets, rather than have inset for teachers that will enable them to incorporate tablets into their teaching.

Apart from a few connectors, there's very little a "technology" student can do. The manufactures do not sell diagnostic equipment, applications or for that matter circuit diagrams on how the tablets work, they are for all intents and purposes a throw away item. This is/was just another bungled scheme.

[ggold]

So instead of buying higher quality tabs that worked, or just buying masses of new books / classrooms etc. she bought stacks of junk tablets then gets tech students to interrupt their critical education years to go fix her tabs she bought from Del Boy Trotter.

As a crab she thinks the world is her lobster!

Edited December 25, 2013 by ggold

[ginjag]

So instead of buying higher quality tabs that worked, or just buying masses of new books / classrooms etc. she bought stacks of junk tablets then gets tech students to interrupt their critical education years to go fix her tabs she bought from Del Boy Trotter.

As a crab she thinks the world is her lobster!

Are they crustASIANS ???