Civic students use free tablets to watch movies, play songs & games

MUMBAI: When free tablets were given to class VIII students of municipal schools in the city a few months ago, the idea was to ease access to information and boost academic performance. The effect has been quite the opposite. The gadgets are now filled with movies, music and games; academic content in some has even “expired“.
As per the initial plan, the students were to have access to the tablets only during school hours, and had to deposit them before leaving for home.But many schools had to break this rule because of a woeful lack of charging points.
“So, the children took the gadgets home. And within a few days we realized that they had inserted their own memory cards, loading them with songs and movies. Some even found inbuilt games. We were told the students won't be able to connect the tablets to the internet or put their own content, but that is clearly not the case,“ said the headmistress of a suburban civic school. “There is no way teachers or school staff can check each tablet every day .“

About 22,800 students have the tablets, which come with preloaded academic content and are not Wi-Fi or 3G-enabled. It was the Shiv Sena's idea to distribute them as a plank for the forthcoming civic polls. Students of classes IX and X too were to `benefit'. The party's strategy has clearly backfired. A south Mumbai civic school stopped students from taking the tablets home upon discovering what use they had been put to. “Our technicians are deleting all noneducational content now,“ said its principal.
A few principals said that some tablets have flashed a message that their educational content has expired, though the academic year is yet to get over. Upon investigation, the BMC found that some students had changed the datetime settings, pushing forward the expiry date of April 30, 2016. “Our coordinators are rectifying it,“ said additional municipal commissioner Pallavi Darade. “If it is found that students downloaded entertainment content, action will be taken.“