Our gadget-verskrik minister needs to fix schools before buying iPads

24 January 2019 - 08:00 By jonathan jansen
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The only schools that benefit from new technologies are those elite schools where the essential infrastructure and the teaching capacity already exist to make the most of these gadgets. In other words, the rich get richer and the poor are let down.
The only schools that benefit from new technologies are those elite schools where the essential infrastructure and the teaching capacity already exist to make the most of these gadgets. In other words, the rich get richer and the poor are let down.
Image: Masi Losi

Since the State of the Nation debate of 2018 the basic education minister seems gripped by the allure of high-tech gadgets for our schools.

But there is no evidence that a technological gadget produces better learning outcomes than a conventional textbook in the hands of a competent teacher in a primary classroom.

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