The Ministry for Education has said that computer tablets are being distributed to students in 20 Primary State, Church and Independent Schools around Malta and Gozo, as part of the One Tablet Per Child initiative.

In Gozo the participating State Schools are” Ghajnsielem, Sannat and Victoria.

About 350 students, 32 teachers and 21 learning support assistants (LSAs) are taking part in the Pilot Project which will determine what kind of tablet should be adopted and how it should be deployed for all students in State, Church and Independent Schools as from Year 4 in the Primary Classroom.

The participating State Schools in Malta are Siggiewi, Msida, Gzira, Marsascala, Cospicua, Pieta’, Paola, Mellieha, Zurrieq, Bahrija and the Dun Manwel Attard Young Adult Education Resource Centre.

The Church Schools are St Albert the Great, St Joseph Mater Boni Consiglii and De La Salle College. The Independent Schools are Thi Lakin, Chiswick House Schools and San Anton.

The teachers are all volunteers and their participation is covered by a Memorandum of Understanding with the Malta Union of Teachers to be signed in the coming days.

12 local and international tablet hardware and software suppliers are loaning their tablets and software in an investment worth around €200,000. The tablets will be returned to them at the end of the pilot. The tablets are based on three major operating systems, iOS (Apple iPad), Android and Windows. MITA is providing technical assistance.

The Pilot Project was launched in March 2014. Since then teachers have received training by the both the tablet providers and the Department of eLearning within the Ministry for Education and Employment, which is co-ordinating the project.

Tablets will be used in class between October and March 2015. Academic staff at the University of Malta will be involved in the research. An evaluation report will be drawn up and its recommendations will be used in the overall preparations to introduce such innovative technology on a national scale in the Maltese education system. Areas to be considered include the procurement of tablets, the upgrade of the school’s Internet network, and the training of teachers.

The target date to provide a tablet to all students as from Year 4 is October 2016, which gives enough time after the end of the Pilot Project in March 2015 to procure the tablets, upgrade schools with the necessary Internet access infrastructure, provide the tablet to the teachers and get acquainted with the new hardware and software.

The One Tablet Per Child initiative is framed within the National Literacy Strategy for All published earlier this year. Tablets will be used to promote more and better reading, writing, numeracy and digital literacy skills.

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