Suspicions Surrounding Gyeongnam Office of Education's Smart Devices... Office's Point-by-Point Rebuttal

Suspicions regarding the distribution project of student smart devices by the Gyeongnam Office of Education have surfaced once again.

The “Council for the Normalization of Future Education in Gyeongnam,” composed of school operation committee chairs and parent organizations from Changwon, Masan, and Yangsan areas, held a press conference on the 16th at the briefing room of the Gyeongnam Provincial Council, declaring the project to be “full of suspicions” and expressing their intention to report it to the prosecution.

The council first raised the possibility of a private contract in the selection of the smart device supplier.

They claimed, “The company that supplied the devices to the provincial office of education is headquartered in Taiwan, and according to the supply service announcement provided by the provincial office of education to the Public Procurement Service, the structure was such that no other companies could participate except this one.”

They added, “A leading South Korean conglomerate’s OEM tried to participate in the bidding but reportedly could not meet contract conditions such as delivery dates and device specifications, raising suspicions of a private contract.”

They stated, “Unless the quantity was prepared in advance before the bidding, it would be difficult to meet the schedule of contracting on December 23, 2021, deciding the first distribution on January 9, 2022, delivering 130,000 units for the first batch on February 28, 2022, and delivering 160,000 units for the second batch on August 28, 2023.”

The Council for the Normalization of Future Education in Gyeongnam is holding a press conference at the Gyeongnam Provincial Council.
[Photo by Lee Seryeong]

The council also pointed out the weight and specifications of the smart devices. They emphasized, “The devices are too heavy for elementary students to carry, have low specifications causing middle and high school students to avoid them, and many programs do not support simultaneous connection within a single class or integration with other devices, resulting in disruptions to learning.”

“Despite the fact that classes using the devices have not been activated and thus no learning data could have been accumulated, the provincial office of education promoted that it had built 103 data sets in 2022, and earlier this year sent official letters to frontline schools to comply with mandatory device usage hours,” they urged the provincial office of education to disclose the usage volume of the devices distributed with the big data and artificial intelligence learning platform ‘iTalkTalk’ developed by the office.

They then referred to recent media reports that student smart devices were being sold for 90,000 won on the internet secondhand market, criticizing the management status of the devices.

A council official said, “Suspicions surrounding the provincial office of education’s smart devices continue, and difficulties in using the devices are still being voiced at school sites. We hope investigative agencies will clarify everything clearly and resolve all doubts.”

The provincial office of education refuted the council’s claims through explanatory materials released that afternoon.

They explained that to minimize confusion at schools, they initially aimed to deliver all 290,000 units during the 2022 school vacation in March, but as the schedule seemed difficult, they proceeded with delivering 130,000 units by February 28, 2022, and 160,000 units by August 31, 2023, based on the academic term.

They also stated that bidding companies could confirm delivery dates through prior specification disclosures or the official announcement, and that large manufacturers could not directly participate in the smart device distribution project bidding.

They said the provincial office of education could not provide any opinions during the selection process of the top-rated company in the Public Procurement Service evaluation.

They added that the devices used by Gyeongnam students have similar specifications to those distributed by other provincial offices of education and that there is not a significant weight difference compared to products from other manufacturers.

After checking wireless network connection issues at schools in Geoje, Yangsan, and Changwon areas, they confirmed normal operation and said measures have been prepared and are being operated to address increased wireless network usage at schools.

Monthly Average Daily Data Collection Counts of Gyeongnam Office of Education Learning Platform iTalkTalk in 2023. [Data Provided by Gyeongnam Office of Education]

The provincial office of education also disclosed the usage status of iTalkTalk.

According to the data, as of September 2023, the number of users connected was 100,092 for elementary schools (55%), 66,144 for middle schools (71%), and 14,695 for high schools (52%), totaling 210,931 users with a connection rate of 58%.

The average daily collected learning data per month from March to September 2023 increased from 0.62GB in March to 1.32GB in September, averaging 1.39GB.

The provincial office of education stated, “The bidding process was conducted in compliance with relevant laws, and iTalkTalk learning data usage is steadily increasing.”

They added, “Guidance on smart device damage, loss, and unauthorized disposal is continuously provided through iBook management guidelines and home correspondence. We have already requested cooperation to prevent transactions by providing device product information to secondhand trading platforms, and once the video materials for iBook operation and management are completed, they will be distributed in November.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.