Thai education tablet plan hits speed bump

The Thai government's initiative to provide one tablet computer per student in the country has hit a snag and may take longer to deliver than previously expected, Indonesian news provider the Jakarta Post reports.

According to the news source, the Chinese manufacturer selected for the project can only produce approximately 1,000 tablet computers per day, a far cry from the 20,000 it had originally estimated. As a result, it will take the manufacturer nearly three years before it can produce the 1 million tablets the Education Ministry has purchased for Thai elementary students.

Despite the setback, Thailand's government has already begun training educational supervisors to use the devices. The Jakarta Post reports that 549 supervisors will be trained and will then pass their knowledge to nearly 55,000 elementary school teachers this summer.

"We cannot wait until the tablets from China arrive. Our supervisors and teachers have to be prepared. So, whenever the tablets come, they will be able to use them to teach in class," says Anek Ratpiyapaporn, director of the Bureau of Technology for Teaching and Learning at the Office of the Basic Education Commission.

In January 2012, the Bangkok Post reported that Thailand's ruling party, Pheu Thai, was planning to purchase about 900,000 tablets for schoolchildren. The party had said the initial phase of the project would cost 2.2 billion baht, or approximately $70 million.