Thailand Launches World’s Largest Educational Tablet Distribution

Wouldn't you know it, eh! Just as I'm about to bow out of the education system in Thailand and head back to Canada, the country is ushering in a whole new era of education by equipping all of its Grade 1 students with iPad clones.  Anyway...nice to see you. I'm glad you found a few minutes to click by the blog today. Help yourself to some freshly roasted and brewed Arabica bean juice and a banana muffin. Thailand has at least 57 different kinds of bananas... and let me tell you, they've just paid a whole bunch of bananas to buy all these Chinese Scopads.

Tablets have come to play a very significant role in a number of fields. Specifically, in the educational sector, it is viewed as somewhat of a revolutionary product that can help students immensely with their education. And that is precisely why a number of projects have been launched to equip younger students with tablets. Thailand seems to have overtaken all these projects.

The government in Thailand has now inked a whopping deal worth $32.8 million which aims to furnish one million tablets to equip the students around the country. This is, by far, the largest distribution of tablets that is going to happen anywhere in the world.

The deal has been expected for quite some time since the present regime in Thailand had promised such a venture last year during the elections. Though it took them quite some time to finalize the deal, it is happening now. The lucky vendor who has been chosen by the government to provide the huge amount of tablets happens to be Shenzhen Scope. The company will initially bring out 2,000 test units after which it will be providing another 400,000 devices within the next 90 days.

The government has further plans of getting another 530,000 tablets from Shenzhen Scope, a deal which has to be finalized yet. If this part of the deal is also eventually sealed, this will catapult the overall budget of the venture to a massive $75.7 million.

The primary objective of the government in Thailand, through this project, is to equip every first grade student across Thailand with a personal tablet. If all goes well with the distribution of these tablets, this can indeed trigger an educational revolution in the country.

The tablet which will be distributed as a result of the deal is Scopad SP0712. While it is not one of the well-known ones at the international arena, it still comes with fairly impressive specifications, at least for first-graders. For instance, the tablet tools Android ICS on a 7-inch touchscreen and 1GB of RAM together with 8GB of storage and the feature of GPS.

Now, I think this is a fantastic idea...if the government has thought it through. I remember a number of years ago when computers were becoming in vogue and the then Thai government decided it was going to put 'computers in every school in Thailand'. Admirable, huh...except that over 200 of those schools didn't even have electricity - let alone anyone who knew the remotest thing about computers - like turning them on and what to do next. This current program smacks more of keeping election promises than a well-thoughtout plan.

To me, it will help language teachers, for instance, if it has pronunciation software loaded in the scopads. Ideally, loading all the school textbooks would save students having to carry a bagful of books back and forth to school. (I suspect though, since this will be grade 1 students, the book bags will still be carried only now they'll be full of electronic toys, comic books and food!). Meanwhile, school book publishers such as Oxford University Press, Cambridge, McGraw-Hill, etc. should be scrambling to bring out online editions of their school texts.

Our school will be participating in the program from May of next year. Too bad I won't be here to see it but I suspect it will take some time to iron out the flaws in the system. I also hope the school has the foresight to ensure that teachers are given a tablet as well so they can be communicating on the same platform as their students.

For my money, it is a step in the right direction for education in Thailand. The kids here are already very computer savvy and well into technology.

See ya, eh!

Bob