'One tablet per child' scheme put on hold

[Gandtee]

Computers and iPhones etc are the future and the young generation need to be taught how to get every advantage from this technology and not just using for games or social networking .

If they are taught right from a young age then they have a chance of taking full advantage of the devices they are using!

But are they taught right and not just playing games on them?

[AleG]

The well to do kids shouldn't be given a head start because their parents can afford. The poor should be given a level learning field. That's the purpose of the free tablets.

I am strongly in favour of a social approach to education which should result in equal chances in life. But, please, get out of that biased state of denial, admit the free tablets had little or nothing to do with educating children, that it was a short sighted electoralist populistic, totally irrealistic, plan, and, that it allowed 'Dr Thaksin' and the leeches around him to further line their deep pockets with taxpayers' money. That being said, let's look to a, hopefully, brighter future for the young generations. I gave my idea, in a nutshell, here today about informatics in lower schools, forgetting to add the large quality tablets 'for four' should be kept at school. Now, when you have positive personal ideas about what could or should practically be done concerning children's education, please do let share such with us. A free forum like this one has, IMO, a huge positive potential, let us make the best of it from now on, don't you agree?

What basis or empirical study are you basing your notion that tablet had little or nothing to do with educating? Care you qoute one? And why is it with you fellows that keep making corruption charges without any evidence? It's all your rethoric.

I maintained my stand that the free tablets bridge the gap between rich and poor and allow students to enjoy technology and boost education standards. I am not saying though it's the best method. In fact, previous govt education minister Chaturon had hinted that they will likely to hitch free tablets for smart classroom and I agree.

The onus is on the government to demostrate their policies have merit, not on the individual tax payer to go digging around to find out whether their money is well spent or not; if they don't do that either they are negligent, incompetent or they are trying to hide something.... well, it could be all three at the same time too, PTP was very, very special.

[surangw]

someone high up in the system will not be getting any more kickbacks on this deal ( for now)

[Prbkk]

someone high up in the system will not be getting any more kickbacks on this deal ( for now)

Tablets suspended but there wasn't a problem getting funding for the stunning GT2000. Where was the scrutiny and accountability about that?

[Luger2]

"At present, students at secondary level education or Mor 1 Grade in Zone 4 covering North and Northeast regions have not yet received tablets for the 2013 fiscal year."

and everyone else has??

About ten to twelve million students have not yet received tablets from the 2012 fiscal year promise by one of Yingluck's FIVE Education Ministers :

Every student should have a tablet PC by May [2012]

The government's One Tablet Per Child policy will be fully implemented by May, Education Minister Woravat Auapinyakul pledged yesterday.

all students in primary and secondary school," he said, adding that vocational students would also get the tablets.

December 15, 2011

The Nation

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/%20Every-student-should-have-a-tablet-PC-by-May-%20Worav-30171905.html

Shameless Shinawatra Shenanigans with Lousy Lies

[Luger2]

I keep seeing references in this and other threads to the "hundreds" or "thousands" of school without electricity, has anyone experienced one recently or can anyone point me to a survey or reference to substantiate this claim ? Some of the rural schools I have taught in were in dire straits for many reasons but they all had electricity despite the wall sockets falling off and the cables dangling dangerously all over the place. I am just curious as to how a school can manage without electricity in this day and age.

From Chiang Rai

to Sangklaburi

a lot of schools still have no electricity, but do have dirt floors.

Tablet project under pressure

More than 2,000 schools do not have electricity.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Tablet-project-under-pressure-30174293.html

Edited June 4, 2014 by Luger2

[hkt83100]

The best tablet for the kids would have been a slide rule (Rechenschieber). Needs no electric and trains the brain.

[build6]

Computers and iPhones etc are the future and the young generation need to be taught how to get every advantage from this technology and not just using for games or social networking .

If they are taught right from a young age then they have a chance of taking full advantage of the devices they are using!

There is no device in use nowadays that will be current/applicable/meaningful when any of these kids enter the workforce. Parents tend to go crazy on buying computers etc. for their kids, but as far as I can tell all it does is introduce them to porn at a younger and younger age.

The only thing that will help kids is a solid grounding in mathematics and, yes, English (the unquestionable language of technology development. I run into many Chinese engineers who are completely unintelligible in terms of communication in English, but their code is fine). This involves improving their education and that is not exactly the same thing as "spending money".

As far as I can see, in every country, "IT purchase programs" are boondoggles that are desirable only to administrations that are corrupt, foolish, or both. Improving teacher training/funding etc. involves sending money to other people. Using the education budget on hardware provides plenty of opportunities for kickbacks, overt or otherwise, which is why they are so popular, worldwide.

[build6]

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I suspect many of the teachers of the students with tablets don't know how to effectively teach using the tablets.

The well to do kids shouldn't be given a head start because their parents can afford. The poor should be given a level learning field. That's the purpose of the free tablets.

The well-to-do kids aren't getting cut-price questionable-build-quality tablets as are being distributed under this program. They're not handing out ipads. There is such a thing as simply not having enough money to do something right. This is one of them.

The principle that the poor should be given a level learning field is sound, but on the spectrum of "things that can be done", it's not like every other thing that the kids could need money for has already been done.

[Robroona]

someone high up in the system will not be getting any more kickbacks on this deal ( for now)

Tablets suspended but there wasn't a problem getting funding for the stunning GT2000. Where was the scrutiny and accountability about that?

Just your usual " but, but, but" type of post. Adds nothing to the topic at hand, but you just have to keep trying, don't you?

[allan michaud]

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The stuttering parrot post # 4

Computers and iPhones etc are the future and the young generation need to be taught how to get every advantage from this technology and not just using for games or social networking .

If they are taught right from a young age then they have a chance of taking full advantage of the devices they are using!

Indeed true.

However in many cases the Thai teaching staff are unable or unwilling to embrace modern technology for fear of having their self perceived high esteem undermined.

Many schools up country lack the power supply or connections needed to utilize this technology.

...and the batteries are &lt;deleted&gt; and many simply don't work anymore. It would be better if basic infrastructure and power were provided where needed and then start training the teachers properly. Then buy them some proper computers, not toys.

[Ricardo]

someone high up in the system will not be getting any more kickbacks on this deal ( for now)

Tablets suspended but there wasn't a problem getting funding for the stunning GT2000. Where was the scrutiny and accountability about that?

Fair point ... and the GT2000 was first purchased by Thailand way back in the Thaksin-era, wasn't it ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GT200 ... "Reportedly, some 818 GT200 units were procured by Thai public bodies since 2004."

When news of a scam emerges, the malefactors should be pursued, whoever they are/were !

[Luger2]

The meeting agreed to appoint a working group to study both advantages and disadvantages before allowing it to go ahead. The working group will comprise representatives from the ministry, school, parents, teachers and students to study and vome out with proposals in two weeks on whether to terminate the project or go ahead

Too bad PTP didn't do that before spending 3 years and Billions of Baht on this project.

From the start there were many obvious flaws with it, all of which had already been addressed by the OLPC program of Nicolas Negroponte years before, they ignored all that accumulated experience and expertise for no reason... well no legitimate reason that I could think of.

And on top of the billions already spent and siphoned, they were seeking an additonal 4 Billion more last month.

[wandasloan]

Kids need to learn the basics first, the old fashioned way. Once they can manage without tablets/computers/calculators, then start to teach them about such devices.

Introducing these electronics too early and the kids just become reliant on them. As someone said recently, hand a cashier a 1000 baht note for a 500 baht purchase and see how long it takes them to figure out how much change is owed without resorting to electronics. Most of the time I can calculate the amount of change I should get back before the cashier has finished punching it into a calculator.

This is actually hilarious. You are saying that children who did not have electronics have grown up unable to do math, and therefore electronics should be withheld from children so they will be able to do math. Confess. You stole this from the Official ThaiVisa SubCommittee On Those Damn Kids Today, am I right?

Please spare the nonsense about "we have to educate the teachers to educate the children in the proper use of 1947 primers and arithmetic instruction because when I was a boy...." Even if a few old... advanced-experience men here nod wisely at such sage advice it is far, far beyond the possible. It's actually nonsense. It won't happen, not in your country, not in this one, not anywhere in the world, ever again. Patti Page is dead, the Beatles aren't popular and chess is probably going to replace boxing at the Olympics. It's 2014. Deal with THAT instead of "those damned kids today and their teachers...."

You can't "withhold electronics", kids today have full access to electronics. The only questions are HOW to put them into classrooms, and whether to create a sub-class of children who only have occasional access or partial access (through a cheap mobile phone with calculator built in for example) because they can't afford to have full access (a nice tablet, say).

The tablet programme was aimed at giving EVERY kid of a certain age the same, level field. There are other ways. The problem for me is that every other way is not just more expensive, but far more open to corruption than this simple, reasonably accountable one. If you think corruption was bad here... well, it wasn't. But everything after this will be, and more corrupt, too. Let's hope the "smart classroom" or other multi-gazillion baht scheme-plus-commission will help the kids.

The idea that you could "start to teach" today's children about tablets/computers/calculators (calculators? really?) is as hilarious as your insistence that withholding electronics will teach math, when in fact you document that it already hasn't, back in the century you're stuck in.

The average really poor Thai kid who doesn't have a computer at home could teach YOU about a computer, I think.

.

[raybal5]

Computers and iPhones etc are the future and the young generation need to be taught how to get every advantage from this technology and not just using for games or social networking .

If they are taught right from a young age then they have a chance of taking full advantage of the devices they are using!

I agree with what you have stated however I thought the biggest problem was that the tablets supplied are not up to the task. I read they were poorly built and often fail after a short period.

[wandasloan]

I agree with what you have stated however I thought the biggest problem was that the tablets supplied are not up to the task. I read they were poorly built and often fail after a short period.

Definitely not. Among all the problems, this one was way down the list.

The single biggest problem with the tablets is that procurement is not very lucrative for anyone involved. As a local columnist put it in January: "There's no app, it seems, for greed and bureaucracy."

The second biggest problem is that the tablets because Thaksin. The press in the past six months or year have reported that students, teachers and even bosses at schools were generally very satisfied and impressed.

The third biggest problem is the Office ThaiVisa Panel Of Experts On Those Damned Kids And Their New Fangled Computer Things. The panel is empowered to rule on how technology is ruining education, and very often does so.

The fourth biggest problem is that tablets are a total scam because Thaksin.

Failure, if anything, has been less of a problem than in "normal" society.

Note the date of the second sample article. The writer didn't know it, and neither did the school, but the tablet programme had just 11 days to go before the guns came out.

THE NATION – Thu, 7. February 2013

Months have passed since hundreds of thousands of tablets were given to Prathom 1 (Grade 1) pupils across the country. So far, interactive learning with the tablets has provided good motivation to study and to practise for Prathom 1 pupils at a Bangkok school....

"They've paid more attention to study and helped guide each other on how to use applications. Now, they appear more skilled in using the tablets compared to the first week," said Pornnicha Chatapun, director of the school....

11 May 2014:

The state’s One Child One Tablet policy made the school management realise how important technology is in education, said school director Pongthada Subhasan.

... "Besides technological skills, students with tablets are happy and interested in learning," Mr Pongthada said.

"It also benefits teachers as they are more enthusiastic to prepare their lessons and learn new technology with students."

The tablets have been used to teach all six core subjects which are mathematics, science, social studies, Thai, Mandarin, and English.

Sarinya Chaemruean, a Chinese language teacher, said that since tablets entered the classroom, the teaching format has been changed for the better.

"Previously, I had to write Chinese characters on a blackboard or use word cards to teach my students," she said.

"Now, they have learned through learning applications which encourages participation more than olden-day lectures.

And just by the by. Mr Parrot's stuttering, "the young generation need to be taught" about iPhones and the like is surely the second funniest line of the day? Is that really what happens a lot these days? Do you really hear around your house from tweens and early teens,

"Mom and Dad, I can't figure out my iPhone, can you fix it for me to make it easier please?"

Yes, I am sure the young generation is just bursting with curiosity because they are so ignorant about the features on their phones, tablets, gadgets, computers and (a slightly bigger laugh than this) calculators.

.

Edited June 5, 2014 by wandasloan

[build6]

The second biggest problem is that the tablets because Thaksin. The press in the past six months or year have reported that students, teachers and even bosses at schools were generally very satisfied and impressed.

If this is true, I am happy to stand corrected.

However I do have some "industry experience" (not in Thailand admittedly) and (1) a lot of the times, positive reports are inflated for "face" reasons ("face" is not just a Thai phenomenon) and (2) the per unit pricing for every one of these programs I've seen has been unfeasible.

The bidders (Chinese factories especially) operate on the basis that they can either blackmail the system for more money later ("I'm so sorry, we just can't deliver unless you vary the contract and give us more money") or simply just drop out ("I'm so sorry, we just can't do it").

India is another example of this. Their own tablet program (not national) has also failed to deliver. I think there's a NYT feature on this from several months back.

The Latin American experience with the OLPC has also not been that successful (the OLPC ended up much higher cost than initially planned). There's a lot of hand-wavey "economies of scale will make it cheap enough!" but offhand I can't think of any case where it has.

I think it's a very good sign when no reputable manufacturer attaches itself to the program and the tablets come from entities nobody has heard of.

Edited June 5, 2014 by build6

[332]

There is no device in use nowadays that will be current/applicable/meaningful when any of these kids enter the workforce.

Are you kidding?

They'll still be popping balloons and baking cakes while ignoring customers in 20 years time too.

[Luger2]

The second biggest problem is that the tablets because Thaksin. The press in the past six months or year have reported that students, teachers and even bosses at schools were generally very satisfied and impressed.

If this is true, I am happy to stand corrected.

If it is true, it'd be interesting to actually see these alleged reports of "generally very satisfied and impressed."

Meanwhile, we do have samplings of many, many reports saying the polar opposite:

The Office of the Auditor-General (OAG) says that about 30 percent (259,000 computer tablets) of the 860,000 tablets distributed to students last year are reported as being broken or needing repair.

OAG also claims that the supplier, China’s Shenzhen Scope Scientific Development, had signed an agreement with a local firm, Advice Distribution, to maintain and repair the tablets for two years, but it failed to do so.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:G8oh7Q3iajkJ:bambooinnovator.com/2013/10/09/thailands-one-tablet-per-child-program-rocked-by-claims-of-30-broken-tablets/+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=th&client=firefox-a

"One Tablet Per Child" tablet manufacturer goes bankrupt

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/701860-one-tablet-per-child-tablet-manufacturer-goes-bankrupt/

There have been multiple issues with this "scheme" covering nearly every facet of it, beginning with the first lie in the name of it.

One Tablet Per Child

In fact, it was implemented as only One Tablet Per 12-ish Children (only P1 students got them in the beginning when they were promised to every student from P1 to M6. Not to mention that also all vocational students were also promised a tablet.

Edited June 5, 2014 by Luger2

[build6]

useful info, thanks. looks like unfortunately my initial impressions were not wrong ... don't know if that's a :-) or a :-(

I've been in IT since close to the beginning (first computer was an Apple ][) and I personally am not fixated on getting my own kids into computers too early. They need to be able to count and they need to be able to read, and neither of these are essentially linked to computing. About the only concrete way the tablet program could help Thai kids is if it improved their English in ways that the preexisting classroom methods could not (I can actually envision this happening), but from what I've seen so far, the whole tablet program seems to be (for the people who aren't into it for corrupt purposes) another example of "technology fetishisation" by people who don't understand computers -

1) "Technology good!!!"

2) "This is technology!!!"

===================

therefore:

3) " This is good!!!"

[northernjohn]

Computers and iPhones etc are the future and the young generation need to be taught how to get every advantage from this technology and not just using for games or social networking .

If they are taught right from a young age then they have a chance of taking full advantage of the devices they are using!

So you are not in favor of teaching them to use logic and reasoning. Just carry an electronic gadget with them every where they go to give them the information. Such as 2+2=4.

I agree that they need to be taught how to use them as tools not replacements. Giving them to a student who is just entering school will rob them of the ability to think. Wait until they have two years of proper schooling. All ready the heads of colleges are coming up with recommendations and computers are not on the published list.

[TedM]

BANGKOK: -- The Education Ministry has put the children tablet project on hold pending a two-week study by a working group of its advantage and disadvantages.

This afternoon, the Education Ministry announced that the children tablet project project has been scrapped.

[SparklingCascades]

Thailand's manufacturing sector & tourism have managed with little English.

The service sector is struggling. Most International Companies have opened their hub's and regional main offices in multi-lingual countries, which deliver English fluency. For example Philippines is now the call center capital of Asia (creating 25,000+ jobs in 2012 & 2013 alone). Thanks to its English proficiency whilst being able to retain its national language ie: Tagalog. Malaysia is another example of attracting service sector type industries.

Thailand has the highest number of English Language coaching classes in Asia but speaks the least English thanks to our learning style where we cram & by-heart stuff with little encouragement to practically apply stuff we learn - be it in math, science or with English.

The best way for a Thai to learn English is to either go to one of the International Schools in Thailand or live for some years overseas.

How do we hope to compete in the AEC with our backward approach to anything non-Thai (not just English) remains to be seen.

[build6]

BANGKOK: -- The Education Ministry has put the children tablet project on hold pending a two-week study by a working group of its advantage and disadvantages.

This afternoon, the Education Ministry announced that the children tablet project project has been scrapped.

https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/singapore-grapples-smartphone-addiction-030637768.html

From the article:

=============

He recalled having treated an 18-year-old male student with extreme symptoms.

"When I saw him, he was unshaven, he had long hair, he was skinny, he hadn't showered for days, he looked like a homeless man," Wang told AFP.

The boy came to blows with his father after he tried to take away the young man's laptop computer.

After the father cut off Internet access in the house, desperation drove the boy to hang around neighbours' homes trying to get a wireless connection.

He was eventually hospitalised, put on anti-depressants and received "a lot" of counselling, Wang said.

...

"Trisha Lin, an assistant professor in communications at the Nanyang Technological University, said younger people face a higher risk because they adopt new technology earlier -- but can't set limits."

Edited June 14, 2014 by build6

[Neurath]

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Thailand's manufacturing sector & tourism have managed with little English.

The service sector is struggling. Most International Companies have opened their hub's and regional main offices in multi-lingual countries, which deliver English fluency. For example Philippines is now the call center capital of Asia (creating 25,000+ jobs in 2012 & 2013 alone). Thanks to its English proficiency whilst being able to retain its national language ie: Tagalog. Malaysia is another example of attracting service sector type industries.

Thailand has the highest number of English Language coaching classes in Asia but speaks the least English thanks to our learning style where we cram & by-heart stuff with little encouragement to practically apply stuff we learn - be it in math, science or with English.

The best way for a Thai to learn English is to either go to one of the International Schools in Thailand or live for some years overseas.

How do we hope to compete in the AEC with our backward approach to anything non-Thai (not just English) remains to be seen.

Thai language and culture is so heavily invested in identifying and respecting the status of the speaker that it becomes extraordinarily difficult without great rudeness to seperate the speaker from what is said. But it's that seperation that allows for critical thinking and contest of ideas. And therein lies the true problematic nub and hub of education reform in the country - tablets or no tablets.