Billions spent in electronic devices for public school students

[Dolores]

Investigative journalist Alicia Ortega reports that the education authorities are working on another major drive to provide electronic devices to students. As reported in El Informe con Alicia Ortega, the government has spent around RD$25 billion just from 2018 to 2020 to provide public students with the devices. Most of those devices are not usable anymore.

Read more in Spanish:Diario Libre Diario Libre El Informe con Alicia Ortega

17 September 2024

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[El Hijo de Manolo]

Is Ms Ortega aware of the millions in device inventory, exposed in recent press, that are sitting in warehouses around the country?

 

[CristoRey]

25 billion pesos is 416,700,682.90 US Dollars.
This is an insane amount of money.

 

[M4kintosh]

25 billion pesos is 416,700,682.90 US Dollars.
This is an insane amount of money.

It is. As stated on the news report, they'll be making another shopping spree to replace the old devices. A couple billions trown to the garbage.

 

[NanSanPedro]

It is. As stated on the news report, they'll be making another shopping spree to replace the old devices. A couple billions trown to the garbage.

They're trying to emulate their big brother and waste tax money.

 

[Father Guido]

and they'll treat these tablets/laptops like they treat their cellphones, which means the screens will be smashed and unreadable, and the batteries useless due to improper charging

 

[El Hijo de Manolo]

and they'll treat these tablets/laptops like they treat their cellphones, which means the screens will be smashed and unreadable, and the batteries useless due to improper charging

Some yes. Some will care for them.. like the sneakers!

 

[JD Jones]

Did anyone notice the years when that 25 billion was spent? 2018 - 2020.

And how do new tablets "go bad" sitting in a warehouse?

 

[NanSanPedro]

Did anyone notice the years when that 25 billion was spent? 2018 - 2020.

And how do new tablets "go bad" sitting in a warehouse?

Believe it or not, there is such a thing as a dormant failure rate. However, it is not of that magnitude. But the way the articles is written, could it not be obsolesence?

 

[johne]

Instead of spending 25 billion pesos on an investment that "may" turn out to be crap tablets or another variations on "how to build a new corruption scam", I have an idea that might result in a far larger payout for the Prez. and the DR.It goes like this"
Luis wants the DR to have a bigger presence in digital, chips, computers etc.
DR, as far as I know, does not have wide-spread training/education in this field.
Education Dept failed in the past and provided tablets that had little value and now will spend billions more to do same...IMO.

Idea: Take half of the money (as a hedge against my idea that may also fail).
Invest in a facility to train people. Make computers and assorted hardware by employing 6 experts in the art of manufacturing. Have Luis donate a government building that will be part school, training and manufacturing. Have him put his name on it and serve as part of his legacy. Done all the time in other parts of the world. Have the 6 managers train 100-200, or more people. Build a company instead of gambling with billions of dollars.

In summary. Luis gets his entry into chip production that he asked for by starting at the lowest level. The country gets a facility that will train and employ hundreds. The population will get hope. The schools will get tablets.

The other half of the billions will go into an operating account for the venture.

 

[RG84]

Did anyone notice the years when that 25 billion was spent? 2018 - 2020.

And how do new tablets "go bad" sitting in a warehouse?

reading this on my 9 yr old laptop. Can I get one of those 4 yr tablets?

 

[Northern Coast Diver]

Instead of spending 25 billion pesos on an investment that "may" turn out to be crap tablets or another variations on "how to build a new corruption scam", I have an idea that might result in a far larger payout for the Prez. and the DR.It goes like this"
Luis wants the DR to have a bigger presence in digital, chips, computers etc.
DR, as far as I know, does not have wide-spread training/education in this field.
Education Dept failed in the past and provided tablets that had little value and now will spend billions more to do same...IMO.

Idea: Take half of the money (as a hedge against my idea that may also fail).
Invest in a facility to train people. Make computers and assorted hardware by employing 6 experts in the art of manufacturing. Have Luis donate a government building that will be part school, training and manufacturing. Have him put his name on it and serve as part of his legacy. Done all the time in other parts of the world. Have the 6 managers train 100-200, or more people. Build a company instead of gambling with billions of dollars.

In summary. Luis gets his entry into chip production that he asked for by starting at the lowest level. The country gets a facility that will train and employ hundreds. The population will get hope. The schools will get tablets.

The other half of the billions will go into an operating account for the venture.

Super idea! I did see on the local morning news that the President has already authorized the training facility you envision, to prepare for chip manufacturing. It seemed that Luis wants to create a labor force to encourage foreign investment in chip manufacturing here on the island.

 

[LindseyKaufman]

I agree with you all. And instead of providing devices to individuals, update the electronics in the classroom, tablets, smart boards, etc. Make the teacher accountable by taking regular inventories of devices in each classroom.

We own and use various times daily the only Smart Board in Jamao. When a commission from the Ministry of Education visited me this past week, they did not know what it was and thought our kids were watching tv!

The beauty of a smart board is a website called Boom Learning. For $1 USD you can download activities that cover all your learning objectives. You enter the names of the students in your class and assign the activities you are working on at the moment. The children think they are playing a video game on a huge screen, when actually they are working on your academic objectives. The program keeps a records (which are printable ) of the activities each child has completed and his/her success rate.

THEN, you train the parents how to download the app on their phones or tablets. They enter your class login and their children can work on the activities at home, too.

And the beauty of it all is that the results on each child’s activities they complete at home are also recorded in the master app in our little school.

The Smart Board is also used like a tablet to Google information, and you can download almost any app. We use YouTube.

More over, it can function as a white board, the only difference being that each time you write on the board, if you want, you can save the information.

Our SmartBoard cost $4,000 USD. It is one of the most valuable learning materials we own.

So instead of giving kids tablets, buy a Smart Board for each classroom. It will transform learning.

 

[johne]

Super idea! I did see on the local morning news that the President has already authorized the training facility you envision, to prepare for chip manufacturing. It seemed that Luis wants to create a labor force to encourage foreign investment in chip manufacturing here on the island.

Thanks. Of course he does. It's a ticket to enter the 1st world.

 

[josh2203]

We own and use various times daily the only Smart Board in Jamao. When a commission from the Ministry of Education visited me this past week, they did not know what it was and thought our kids were watching tv!

Exactly. so the people responsible for the public education in the DR had no idea about real technology that actually helps studying when used properly. Way to go DR govt... You (Lindsey, not the govt...) should be darn proud of yourself and your school!

 

[Northern Coast Diver]

Exactly. so the people responsible for the public education in the DR had no idea about real technology that actually helps studying when used properly. Way to go DR govt... You (Lindsey, not the govt...) should be darn proud of yourself and your school!

I have had the pleasure of visiting Lindsey's school in Jamao. Her school should be a model for the whole country!!!

 

[Uzin]

A lot of money...!

I Googled the primary + secondary school population in DR, 2.2 million, add more for high school, and some uni students, say 4 million, be generous...

With say $400mill spend, they should have bought a $100 tablet for every single student in DR...!?

 

[bob saunders]

Exactly. so the people responsible for the public education in the DR had no idea about real technology that actually helps studying when used properly. Way to go DR govt... You (Lindsey, not the govt...) should be darn proud of yourself and your school!

New Horizons, and Santiago Christian school I believe both use smartboards. Not cheap.

 

[josh2203]

New Horizons, and Santiago Christian school I believe both use smartboards. Not cheap.

Cheaper or more expensive than all the devices that have been purchased but nobody uses? All these tablets etc for starters...

 

[josh2203]

reading this on my 9 yr old laptop. Can I get one of those 4 yr tablets?

We still have an old Samsung tablet, that we got free due to purchasing a mobile phone in 2014. Obviously, it's not the latest standards etc but it still works flawlessly. This is just typical from DR govt to spend money and throw everything away just after a short while. Think of all those police vehicles, and it's certainly not the first time the Ministry of Education has been caught red-handed with warehouses full of purchased stuff that is "worth nothing" according to the govt. I bet that if not all, most of any given material would be perfectly fine for pupils to learn, but no, they are unusable and worth nothing because the govt said so.

If you have one of those rugged business laptops (Dell Latitude, Lenovo Thinkpad, HP Elitebook or whatnot), they last for years and years.