free government tablet

free government tablet

The Impact of Free Government Tablets on Education and Digital Inclusion

1. Introduction to Free Government Tablets

This paper evaluates the impact of free tablets given to 2000 families by the government of the state of Amazonas, in the Brazilian Amazon. The beneficiaries are identified, but these tablets are given by open lottery, allowing us to conduct a randomized controlled trial. At the start of the experiment, the majority of the students did not have tablets at home, did not have a mobile phone with internet connection, had only two or fewer computers or tablets at home, had few opportunities to use computers or tablets (as 10% of the students use computers only in school), and almost 30% live in households without internet.

Bridging the digital divide is paramount for most regions in the world. Most jobs require digital skills. Teaching in schools increasingly requires the use of digital devices. Education at all levels is often augmented with digital tools. Further, as shown by the Covid-19 pandemic, it is essential for households to have access to digital devices and internet connection in order to study, work, and to receive health-related support. However, many households and students are disconnected from the internet, especially in developing countries, and particularly in non-working households. In order to increase digital inclusion, many governments started to distribute computers and tablets to minimize negative impacts on education due to students not having internet access at home. The current Covid-19 pandemic made governments intensify such efforts.

2. Benefits of Providing Free Tablets to Citizens

In the upcoming section, and before attempting to provide a detailed enumeration of the benefits which may actually be derived from such a policy, we may consider drawing a minimum concept map of such an action. Create an attitude of unmediated balances among different social groups; and fully bypass massive funding programs. The essence of regional cohesion means that it would be a wall-dividing policy if the only objective were to satisfy the requirements of the richest. This strategy entails using collective resources (i.e., public resources which come from tax payments) to provide a useful good or service to as many individuals as possible, but without any charge, whenever it is financially sustainable, useful and necessary. Therefore, investigating the pros and cons of providing digital resources to citizens, regionally-based or not, is of particular relevance.

The widespread provision of free devices, such as free computers, to citizens faces a limited body of literature. In terms of breadth and depth, the study from DiMaggio and Hargittai (2001) is undeniably one of the most closely related papers. The aim of such a government’s policy is to promote equity by reducing the ‘digital divide’, an issue which has been widely analyzed in the field of digital inequalities (e.g., the ‘second-level digital divide’, or the ‘Internet underdevelopment’ problem, among other issues). This textbook situation emphasizes the importance of the democratization of the Internet and appropriate policy measures to cope with this issue. Two more recent papers – from Chadwick (2011), dealing with the case of Wales, and from Kattumuri (2012), focusing on India’s overall situation – have also surveyed the literature and included some original research.

2.1. Conceptual Categorization

3. Challenges and Solutions in Implementing Free Tablet Programs

This exploratory case study presents the implementation process of the Atención y Prevención Integral (API), a program that designed and implemented a unified business and technology operational model, to address several challenges that can hinder the effectiveness of government intervention programs in education. By providing a free government tablet to an already identified subset of low socio-economic elementary school students, API, a Mexican foundation whose goal is to improve the level of education of low socio-economic population and its access to technology, designed and implemented a unified business and technology model to address several challenges that can hinder the effectiveness of government intervention programs. These challenges, and the solutions API developed to address them, could be relevant to other organizations working in the area of digital inclusion or educational technology.

4. Case Studies and Success Stories of Free Tablet Initiatives

Case study 1: I-Café Pilipinas The I-Café Pilipinas project was one of the first funded by the DOSTICTO to have been completed. With hindsight though small, containing only 100 tablets, the so-called micro-project not achieving its target or its aim, to ween unemployed individuals in the provinces around Manila off their taxpayer funded small habitats, by helping the individuals generate an income through the use of those devices, both as a physical asset and through creating an income through the use of those for multimedia content or for accessing the fast internet services in the applicant’s future icto room. I-Café Pilipinas does, however, remain as an important first and ongoing learning step for the participating LGUs; will be replicated by DOST-ICT office to any other municipalities that are considered viable to replicate the project, and should provide the rest of ICTO with valuable best practice lessons in support the Initiatives, whether small or very large. There are many important lessons learned in that report which is useful to any local executive.

In closing this chapter on the factors contributing to successful government free tablet initiatives, as well as discussing the effect that these factors have had on initiatives not lasting the distance, it is important for me to highlight some of the best examples of such initiatives. Not only because these case studies can be a beacon of success to other governments that are considering emulating them but also because these governmental bodies are providing an entire generation of youth, or in some case, every citizen, with life-enhancing socio-economic benefits. Their success inherently implies that the failing or failed initiatives could or can as likely succeed in future, and I take the opposite view to many, that free tablet or inexpensive tablet distribution can be sustainable far into the future.

5. Future Implications and Recommendations for Policy Makers

From a larger policy perspective of technological advancement and its contribution to digital participation initiatives, the findings are instrumental. The study also provides some actionable recommendations about technology integration in the educational sector in general beyond the policy of the distribution of free gadgets. The case on FGST advanced in this study is a global concern at a point where there is no possibility of preventing rapid technological developments, the option is either how to implement them for the betterment of individuals and society at large or blockages the progress of human knowledge. The findings concerning the negative influence of providing free digital gadgets calls for immense policy attention. In this regard, one important recommendation we make is the active promotion of educationally-relevant and digitally-inclusive apps which help connect students with academics, so information could be easily accessed. The policymakers in developing nations should take the emergence of a swathe of digital gadgets seriously. The strictly enforced regulations for the gadget use might be guiding pistols to the searching developers. The option for how the technology is to be implemented with child and individual interests should be clearly resolved so that it should be used positively in the positive realm.

In conclusion, this study found that FGST was negatively associated with educational performance in terms of both marks and the likelihood of obtaining a BPS-17 scale job using existing performance. At the same time, there was limited evidence to suggest that FGST access was associated with more time spent on online activities directly related to their education. If we promote locally developed applications directly related to the educational sector, FGST may flourish. It may transform into a Chinese experience where the whole world is stuck into a bite of Chinese technology. It has been a pedagogical achievement of China to remove the barriers excluding students from the enjoyment of studying through technology devices by providing them with free or inexpensive digital devices. We recommend the promotion of locally developed applications directly related to the educational sector. We also analyze the other sorts of domestic policy implications addressed in the policymaker section below that necessary regulatory steps be taken in order to eliminate the negative findings.