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One academic year has passed since the Pheu Thai-led government distributed free tablet computers to Prathom 1 (Grade 1) students."
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| Photo: Bangkok Post |
Those students are now second-graders and have been allowed to take the tablets with them, while the government is procuring more than 800,000 new tablets for the next first-graders. Still, several problems were identified during the first year of the scheme's implementation and the government must now solve them.
STUDIES INTO USAGE
According to a survey conducted by the National Statistical Office from Jan 16 to March 31 this year, 97.7% of schools nationwide had been offered tablets and 0.5% had not yet received the devices.
The survey also found 8.9% of all delivered tablets had problems, such as broken screens, programming errors and charging flaws. Of the schools which had received the tablets, 98.8% of them used the the devices in teaching, while only 0.8% did not use them despite having received them. Most schools allowed students to use tablets for one hour a day. School executives and teachers interviewed in the study identified three main advantages of the tablet policy.
These are: Encouraging students to pay more attention during lessons; providing students with opportunities to learn basic computer skills; and allowing students to learn anytime and anywhere. They also identified three main disadvantages. These were: A reduction in physical exercise; deteriorating handwriting; and and a reduction in human interaction and playing time with friends. However, most executives and teachers said they were satisfied with the policy overall.
The survey was conducted among 2,854 respondents.
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Source: Bangkok Post
