Slowly but surely, schools started to receive the tablets. However, the plan was not thought through as pupils had to share tablets and the fear of the devices being stolen was high. The Gauteng Education Department has now revealed the devices are being recalled so that security tracking devices can be fitted.
Why this was not thought of before the distribution will remain a mystery. The DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Education Khume Ramulifho said only a quarter of the tablets were returned for the tracking devices to be installed, due to a reluctance to hand them back after the department announced the tablets would not be returned to the original recipients.
It has now been decided that instead of distributing 40 tablets per school, it would be better to rollout the tablets in phases, so that each pupil receives one.
This is like giving a child a puppy and then taking it away. How the department of education did not think this through is astounding.
Education spokesperson, Phumla Sekhonyane, has said that distributing 40 tablets to each school did not assist in fast-tracking the realisation of a world-class education system.
Well, when devices have to be shared, this seems a little obvious.
When trying something new, something different, there will always be glitches and, understandably, new strategies will need to be adopted.
But this glitch seems far too big.
How did the department ever think that pupils sharing devices was going to work?
One can only hope the Department of Education gets this right soon and that the pupils who have had their dreams dashed, will once again receive tablets that will assist them with their education and future.
