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Thailand Government Cancels OLPC Participation

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the roll-a-hard-six dept.

patiwat writes "Thailand's new junta-appointed Education Minister has cancelled Thailand's participation in the One Laptop Per Child project and scrapped a plan to give a 2B1 laptop to every primary school student. He has also cancelled plans to roll out computers and a broadband connection to every single school in Thailand. The cancellation of half a million scholarships for needy students is being studied. He cited the lack of readiness of teachers and the need to focus on basic education standards. "We will not focus too much on technology and materials. We will focus on substance," he said. This comes on the heels of the cancellation of the Thai government's open source policy."

3 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. More hardware = More infrastructure by lecithin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "He cited the lack of readiness of teachers and the need to focus on basic education standards."

    This guy needs to manage my Data Center. It is a well known thought (from a sysadmin point of view) that throwing hardware at an undefined problem may mask the issue for a time, but it does not 'usually' solve the problem.

    High technology CAN be a liability if it isn't managed correctly.

    --
    It could be worse, it could be Monday.
  2. Re:not an Open Source failure - not a failure by sien · · Score: 5, Insightful
    How do you know the OLPC program is a failure? What criteria were set for it to be a success that it hasn't met yet?

    It hasn't even started yet. It may be a failure, but to declare it a failure is like declaring who has won the 2010 World Cup today.

    The OLPC may go to more places than developing countries. There are a number of places that are doing a trial of the system.

    With Libya's order going through they have enough to get serious volumes being made. Once they show that then other countries, including richer developed countries may be interested. OLPCs may work well as text book readers. How much does the average school system in a US spend on textbooks per student per year? Who can say now whether some of these uses will take off.

    The OLPC may fail, but it hasn't failed yet and it is silly to describe it as having failed before it's even been tried.

  3. Re:Steel ones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Which part of "military coup" did you not understand?

    More likely, he is canceling this because the last thing a military dictatorship wants is informed citizens.