In poor countries technology can make big improvements to education
<i>&quot;In poor countries technology can make big improvements to education</i><p><i>Teachers are often unqualified, ignorant or absent; tablets show up and work&quot;</i><p>I reached the article limit, so I could only read this, and I disagree.<p>I live in Brazil and my wife works in a big NGO focused on education. She visits schools in poor regions all over the country. Her current understanding is that she sees no evidence that technology helps at all. And the NGO piloted lots of tech initiatives on lots of schools.<p><i>&quot;Teachers are often unqualified, ignorant or absent; tablets show up and work&quot;</i><p>The first part is definitely true, the second one not so much.<p>What seems to make a difference is a prepared and motivated school principal.<p>EDIT:<p>I just read the whole article (thanks to <i>ivm</i> letting me know about Outline).<p>The title is kind of clickbaity. Big programs, with a lot good things going on, and they focus on the small part that use tablets and I don&#x27;t think it is even an absolute necessity.<p><i>&quot;The coach-and-tablet element is just one part. A curriculum based on synthetic phonics (widely used in developed-country schools) has been designed and 23m books distributed, along with detailed lesson plans to make life easier for teachers. But the technology is crucial to supporting them and providing their bosses with data about their performance.&quot;</i><p>It is <i>&quot;crucial&quot;</i> for a small part of the program with good results.<p>They at least acknowledge some high profile programs that did not work and go on to share a few other few and specific cases that are very interesting and explain how tech could indeed help.<p>I still think it overrates the tech part, but looks like the classic case where the journalist writes a more down to earth article and the editor adds a exagerated title.