Additional 73,000 tablet computers to be distributed to Thai schools

BANGKOK, July 24 (TNA) - Thailand's Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC) will soon deliver 73,000 more tablet computers to students in provincial areas after an official inspection by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). OBEC Secretary-General Chinapat Phumratana told reporters Tuesday that another lot of 73,000 tablet computers had arrived in Thailand from China and they are now stored at Thaiparcels Co. pending the random check by the ICT Ministry. Chinapat said that the random check should finish within this week and the delivery should start on July 30, and that the additional tablet PCs should be delivered to provinces in the Thai alphabetical order, from Chon Buri to Nakhon Ratchasima. Chinapat acknowledged that the management of schools which had obtained the first lot of tablet computers had started to hand the devices to their students and school executives were training their teachers to use the devices, and that his office would organize the third public forum on educational benefits of tablet computers in the near future. Meanwhile, Pithan Phuenthong , Director of the OBEC’s Bureau of Monitoring and Evaluation, revealed that 17,000 of the new lot of 73,000 tablet computers would be sent to teachers so that they could learn to use the devices and the rest 56,000 devices would be delivered to students in Chon Buri, Chai Nat, Chaiyaphum, Chumphon, Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Trang, Trat, Tak, Nakhon Nayok, Nakhon Pathom, Nakhon Phanom and Nakhon Ratchasima provinces. (TNA)