PM seeks to recruit tech students to repair tablets, teach kids
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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 commissio
“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.
