The reports carried by some Thai media criticizing the "poor quality" of Chinese-made tablets offered to Thai schools nationwide were groundless and untrue, the supplier has said.
About 0.62 percent of the Chinese-made tablets currently used by Thai schoolchildren have been found in defect since last year, not as much as 30 percent as mistakenly charged by the Thai media, according to Liu Jun, chairman of China's Shenzhen Scope Scientific Development.
Last May, the Information and Communications Technology Ministry (ICT) of Thailand inked a tablet-supply contract with the Chinese manufacturer under the One Tablet per Child (OTPC) policy, a campaign promise made by the ruling Pheu Thai Party in 2011.
The ICT said in a thank-you letter to Scope after the delivery was completed last October that the quality and technical specifications of the products met its expectations and the tablets were of good, stable quality.
"We are satisfied with the technical support, qualified products, smooth logistic, effective communication and in-time after-sale service," read the letter.
However, citing a report by the Office of the Auditor-General ( OAG), which monitors the OTPC policy, some Thai newspapers and websites have recently flocked to report that around 30 percent, or 260,000, of the Scope tablets had been broken and many after- sale service centers shut down.
"Those reports are groundless and seriously goes against the facts," said Liu.
According to him, ICT statistics shows that only 0.62 percent, or 5344 of the Scope tablets have been returned for repair between August 2012 and August 2013, and three after-sale service centers were moved to another location, instead of being shut down.
Earlier this month, Thai Education Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng pointed out that the 30 percent repair rate was a result of a random check by the OAG on 990 tablets and it should not be used as a nationwide figure.
The Education Ministry, instead of the ICT, has been put in charge of the second-phase of the project, which started in May.
Chaturon quoted teachers at varied schools where the Chinese tablets were distributed as saying their schoolchildren effectively learned English, science, math and other subjects with the help of the computers.
According to Liu, the Chinese manufacturer is committed to making its cooperation with the Thai government a success.
The Scope tablets carry a two-year warranty upon return for repairs, which is longer than usual, and a total of 114 after-sale service centers have been set up across the country, a lot more than 60 as agreed in the contract.
Moreover, the company has hired over 200 local employees to be trained as professional technicians.
Some observers argued that rumors against the Scope tablets are politically motivated as the Chinese supplier fell victim to Thailand's internal political tug-of-war.
The real target was not the Chinese-made tablets, but the Yingluck Shinawatra administration and its OTPC project, which the oppositions have already deemed as a failure, they said.
Source: Xinhua
