Educators complain about old reformatted laptops returned in sorry state

Several educators who received a new state-sponsored laptop computer and then paid to have their old laptop reformatted and kept as their personal property, have reported degraded performances of the returned laptop.

State school educators are offered the possibility to pay around €50 for their old laptops to be reformatted and returned to them, while also being granted new laptops.

Screengrabs from a closed Facebook group where multiple educators claimed  their old laptops were returned in a sorry state, reveal many complaints about poor battery durability and even slower performances.

One teacher who spoke to MaltaToday said her laptop was working perfectly before handing it over for its reformatting, and now could no longer function without direct electrical power.

Malta Union of Teachers president Marco Bonnici said there were many issues with the laptops, ranging from distributary to technical ones.

“There have been issues with failures to carry out repairs to old laptops and issues with the distribution of new laptops. Educators also have the option of paying a minimal fee to keep the old laptop when given the new one, but there are issues with that as well,” Bonnici said.

Multiple educators have claimed that their old laptops were returned in a sorry state

Multiple educators have claimed that their old laptops were returned in a sorry state

Multiple educators have claimed that their old laptops were returned in a sorry state

Multiple educators have claimed that their old laptops were returned in a sorry state

He said the MUT informed its members that a batch of 2,500 laptops were being distributed to educators in state schools. That meant that a further 2,500 laptops were still pending. However all Church school laptops had been delivered.

“The union already stated that it is highly concerned about the timing of this distribution process, with considerable delays throughout the process and which the directorates insist was caused by international production issues. It also seems that there are other serious issues for the remaining batch,” Bonnici stated.

He said regular meetings were being held with education minister Clifton Grima and the ministry’s permanent secretary.

€2.1 million was allocated for new laptops for learning support educators and kindergarten assistants in church schools alone. After numerous delays, former ministry permanent secretary Frank Fabri issued a tender for 7,000 laptops, whose delivery was also delayed due to an international shortage of materials used for laptop production. A procurement process for new laptops for educators at Church schools was completed in October 2021, with 2,000 new laptops also expected to be distributed to educators in state schools.

Laptop distributor plays down concerns

Eworld Limited, the company that won the tender for the provision and the distribution of laptops, said problems with old laptops were to be expected.

Managing director Raphael Micallef Trigona acknowledged there were “one or two cases” where educators were not satisfied with the laptops are they were formatted by them.

“One has to note that these laptops are five years old or over and they are not always returned in the best condition […] I find it strange and next to impossible that there are those many cases of unsatisfied customers,” Micallef Trigona said.

“We want the teachers to be happy but wear and tear is perfectly normal. We are honouring our tender and we value of credibility.”

Brand manager Joe Spiteri also explained that the educators are aware that the old laptops are no longer in warranty. “They pay €25 to government and €20 to us for the format. The only process we do is to format the laptop and deactivate certain software licences […] You have my guarantee that no hardware is replaced. Laptops have a life span of five years, so issues with the battery are expected.”

Questions to the ministry of education remained unanswered.