The new academic year began a few weeks ago and yet, not a single Prathom 1 or Mathayom 1 student has received a tablet from the government's "One Tablet Per Child" project. Why? The government has not yet completed the bidding process for the procurement of these learning devices.
It's a delay that has hit the project again this year even though relevant authorities should have learnt a lesson from last year's blunders.
According to the Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec), the government has just concluded its terms of reference (TOR) for the bidding. To complete the process, the TOR will then have to be posted on the Obec website for public scrutiny. If no one protests, the e-Auction will then take place around the middle of this month and the signing of purchase contracts should follow later in the month. After the contract signing, the tablets would be delivered within 90 days.
This means some students will have to wait until September to get the devices. By that time, the current semester will have almost come to a close.
The government planned to spend Bt5.6billion on procuring 1.6 million tablets for Prathom 1 and Mathayom 1 students this year. The project was one of the ruling Pheu Thai Party's much-touted election policies. When the Pheu Thai Party came to power in 2011, it vowed to implement the project in the coming academic year, despite warnings and concern from all sides. The government chose to hand out the devices to Prathom 1 students first, but many experts consider that children of this age are still too young to reap the full benefits of hi-tech devices. The use of them, they say, may discourage children from interacting with others and enjoying normal physical development.
But despite the concerns, the government has again gone ahead with the project even though it is drastically delayed. Some Prathom 1 students got the devices just two weeks before their first semester concluded last year.
So has the government learnt any lessons? It appears not. This year, it is still unable to conclude the tablet procurement bidding process before the start of the new academic year. Again, students and teachers will have to conduct classes without the devices, which the government says should also be integrated into the learning process.
For students who received tablets last year, they are now also stuck, as Obec has not yet downloaded new content and new applications for them. To
date, the content downloading for Prathom 2
students is still in the initial phase.
But this is all just the tip of iceberg when it comes to problems related to the One Tablet Per Child
project. Recent research by Obec found that while tablets have equipped Prathom 1 students with an ability to search for knowledge on their own and pick up language skills faster, they have also reported eye irritations, aching fingers, as well as nausea among students. The research has also revealed that
children spend less time playing with friends and became irritated when friends or siblings want to play games with them on their tablets.
Teachers have also reported maintenance problems. It takes a lot of time to charge the tablet battery and when the tablets malfunction, teachers, who do not have the technical training, have to struggle hard to try and fix them. If the tablets are referred to service centres, students have to wait some time before they get the devices back.
As policy makers rush to implement the One Tablet Per Child project, a large number of schools and teachers are not ready to handle the devices. It is therefore not surprising that in some schools, teachers lock the tablets away in cabinets for most of the time. What if students browse the Internet and access improper content? What if devices suddenly shut down and get infected with a virus?
E-classrooms - boasting Internet-based lessons using large touch screens and projectors - have also been abandoned at schools where they were on trial. Most of the teachers were unable to work the software, so as soon as there was a problem or the technology malfunctioned, teachers simply returned to more conventional methods of teaching.
And in addition to the tablets, all the electronic devices in the e-classrooms will soon expire as the technology is quickly going out of date. Very soon, Thailand will have to deal with a huge pile of
electronic junk.
Indeed, policymakers should review ongoing projects now to see if any adjustments are needed, and to see where improvements can be made.
They need to take action to ensure that the tablets and e-classrooms are well worth the money being spent on them.
The government also needs to plan carefully before introducing any new projects. Hi-tech equipment does not always translate into quality learning and efficiency, but proper planning does.
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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2013/06/03/tablets-proving-to-be-a-big-headache/
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