PN tablet scheme to cost €23.7 million

The Nationalist Party's tablet scheme will provide 50,000 tablets to students in primary and secondary school, PN candidate Claudio Grech said.

The new candidate said the initiative will cost the government €23.7 million over four years and stressed that the scheme is open to all students attending government, church and independent schools.

Grech explained that the government will fork out €15.7 million, with the remaining €8 million would be funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

When questioned on whether the PN can guarantee the EU funding, Grech explained that the proposal is based on best practices from 18 other member states

Explaining the initiative, Grech gave a detailed power point presentation that had evidently been well researched, way before Thursday's battle of the tablets.

Taking a dig at the PL proposal, Grech said, "Our proposal goes well beyond a billboard. It will be a quantum leap in education, and not a gimmick."

Grech said that the PN was setting Malta up to be a global pathfinder in the education revolution. Pointing out that education and information technology had always been two pillars on which successive Nationalist governments had based their vision and policy.

"This is not a billboard, but this is an elaborate foundation on which the future of the country's children will be built upon. The PN scheme is not about the device but about the future. Technology is not an end in itself but a tool to help current and future generations build a better future," the former head of the government's information technology agency said.

Noting that Malta already boasts of one of the best child per PC at school ratio and 90% of children in Malta have internet access, Grech said the policy rationale is that to "invest in smart education in order to create a better future and better jobs. The return on investment will be incalculable, with more and better jobs created and more income for the state, which in trun will be translated in more "

By 2015, 90% of jobs in Europe will require ICT knowledge, irrespective of the sector or job and wages in the ICT sector are expected to double, Grech said.

Grech said the scheme is programmed to be introduced in the scholastic year starting 2014 and the tendering process would last seven to nine months.

He said the government would issue an open tender with open standards "to ensure that no specifications would disqualify any suppliers." The only specifications would be those on the ruggedness of the device and students will be split in three different categories determined by age.

Grech added that the €23.7 million investment would also cover the necessary infrastructure, such as the electricity points, WIFI connectivity and the completion of the fibre to the school project. The devices would also be accessible to disabled persons.

Training will be provided to teachers, parents and students and ebooks,  teaching resources, assessments and attendance records will be among the recourses available.

The government would purchase national licences for high quality content including ebooks and educational apps and a fund would be made available to  local publishers and software firms to create educational apps.

The press conference was also addressed by Parliamentary Secretary Clyde Puli.Puli said:"The PN's proposal is not a one off gift, but a continuation of the governments ongoing investment in smart learning, which in the last three years saw over 4,000 laptops given to teachers, over 6,000 PC's in classrooms and over 2,000 interactive whiteboards.