The tablet giveaway explained | Bangkok Post: learning

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New education minister Worawat Ua-apinyakul clearly believes the PC tablet giveaway is a winning policy. Yesterday he told the Bangkok Post how it will be implemented

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Tablets for everyone

New education minister Worawat Ua-apinyakul

Where will the money come from to buy the tablet PC’s promised during the campaign by the Puea Thai party to the country’s first-year elementary students?

From the government’s annual free education budget, incoming Education Minister Worawat Ua-apinyakul told the Bangkok Post yesterday in an exclusive interview.

Mr Worawat said the state budget supporting the free education scheme comes to 70 billion baht a year.

The government will use around 10% of the budget for the tablet computer allocation scheme.

Most of the funds reserved for the tablet PC project are usually used for free textbooks and free student uniforms, Mr Worawat explained.

"This will not affect students and the overall free education scheme because some textbooks will be replaced by e-content study through the tablets. Uniforms do not need to be changed [to new ones] every year," he said.

"The tablets will not completely replace textbooks. They will act like calculators that help the students to calculate faster," he said.

Mr Worawat has ambitious plans for the tablet PCs, saying he wants to deliver them to all 10 million students from Pathom 1 (Grade 1) to Mathayom 6 (Grade 12) levels countrywide. This would cost about 20 billion baht.

This is a long-term project, however, not something that can be implemented immediately.  The tablets, which will not be Apple Ipad’s incidentally, would be gradually introduced based on the readiness of content and infrastructure, he said.

"And the tablets will be with the students when they pass to higher classes.

As for the internet infrastructure necessary to use the tablets, at first the Office of Higher Education Commission's (Ohec) Inter-University Network or Uninet will be shared with schools.

The content for study is the responsibility of the Ohec and the Office of Basic Education Commission (Obec).

Adapted from a story in today's Bangkok Post by Lamphai Intathep. For the full story, click here: http://bit.ly/qYb1rF

campaign – a planned series of activities designed to persuade voters to vote for a particular candidate or political party การรณรงค์หาสียง
annual – happening once a year ประจำปี
budget – an amount of money able to be spent on something งบประมาณ
incoming – recently elected or chosen ใหม่
exclusive – limited to only one person or group of people แต่ผู้เดียว
interview – a meeting (often a public one) at which a journalist asks somebody questions in order to find out their opinions, experiences, etc. การสัมภาษณ์
state – government รัฐบาล
scheme – a plan that is developed by a government or large organisation in order to provide a particular service for people  แผนการ โครงการ
allocation – an amount of or share of something, in this case, the national budget การแบ่งส่วน
funds – money needed or available to spend on something เงินทุน
reserved - kept for a particular purpose or time สงวนไว้
uniform – the special set of clothes worn by all members of an organisation or a group at work, or by children at school  เครื่องแบบ
overall – total; including all the things or people that are involved in a particular situation; general  ทั้งหมด
replace – to put a new thing in the place of something old เลิกใช้และนำสิ่งใหม่มาใช้แทน
calculator – a small electronic device for calculating with numbers  เครื่องคิดเลข
ambitious – needing a great amount of skill and effort to be successful or be achieved ใฝ่สูง, มักใหญ่ใฝ่สูง, ทะเยอทะยาน
countrywide – throughout a whole country  ทั่วทั้งประเทศ
implement – to make something such as an idea, plan, system or law start to work and be used นำ แผนหรือนโยบายมาปฏิบัติ
immediately – happening right after something else with no delay; right away ทันที
incidentally – used for adding related but less important information to what has just been said or for suddenly introducing a new subject  อีกประการหนึ่ง
gradually – slowly and in small stages or amounts อย่างทีละน้อย
readiness – a state of being ready and able to deal with what might or will happen  ความพร้อม
content – the subject, ideas, or story that a piece of writing, radio or television programme, etc., deals with เนื้อหา,สาระ
infrastructure – a set of systems within a place or organisation that affect how well it operates, e.g., the telephone and transport systems in a country or the system of train tracks that a railway uses สาธารณูปโภค
share – to have or use something at the same time as someone else ใช้ร่วมกัน
responsibility – a duty ความรับผิดชอบ, ความรับผิดชอบ

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