Malta Election: Take a Tablet...

Delivering tablets unto Malta

A curious development in the battle for hearts and minds as the March election draws nearer.  Opposition leader Muscat (Labour) announces his plan to give out tablet computers to every 8 year old school-child in the country.  Within a couple of hours PM Gonzi responds that, naturally, the Nationalist Party had been concerned about the dearth of i-pads in primary schools, but was not so stingy as to limit the largesse to just the fortunate fourth-formers.  No indeed, they would be distributing the devices to every child in the land between the ages of 5 and 16.  Presumably the next step will be for the Labour Party to up the ante and promise an X-Box console with a complimentary FIFA game for everyone in the country with opposable thumbs.

This raises the spectre of underpaid teachers gazing helplessly over roomfuls of kids who are playing Angry Birds and updating their facebook pages during Maths lesson.  Meanwhile principals desperately try to think of ways to contort the curriculum so as to make tablet computers an integral part of the Maltese learning experience.


Now God forbid that I come across as some sort of a party-pooper here, but the whole plan seems less than flawless to me.  "Private companies" are supposed to fund this idea, or at least that was the notion breezily put forward by Mr Gonzi in response to questioning.  Presumably this was to allay fears of horrified voters, no doubt concerned at the prospect of tax hikes in order to pay for this rather surprising scheme.  I wonder whether Apple or Samsung have already made the call to government offices, just waiting for the green light in order to send a container fleet of free tablets across the ocean to Malta.   And I presume that this is not just a once off, so that every new generation of young students must be presented with their own tablet, again with the cheques signed by those charitable private business owners.

It is also reasonable to assume that we have not yet reached the pinnacle of technological achievement, and that new and better tablets - or whatever arrives in 5 years to make tablets look as cutting edge as a Sony Discman - will be required to replace the older models.


A telephone rings in the Apple HQ in Cupertino, and a harried managing director looks up from his desk:

 "If it's the Maltese again, tell them I'm in a meeting..."