Facebook fury at I-Pad Giveaway

by DOUG COLLIE

The decision by the Conservative-led administration at Scottish Borders Council to splash out £15 million on I-Pads for school pupils has been met with a torrent of criticism from parents and others who have branded the move as wasteful of scarce resources.

Much of the negative reaction has come in posts which can be read on the council's Facebook page. More than 90% of those who commented appear to be opposed to the I-Pad distribution for all children in the Primary 6 to Secondary 6 age bracket.

The ruling group also voted to increase council tax bills in 2019/20 by an inflation-busting 4%. The largesse involving I-Pads follows the recent decision to spend £9.4 million to acquire the remainder of Lowood Estate next to Tweedbank village for development.

Here are some of the (unedited) posts which appear on the SBC Facebook site:

Noreen Fairbairn Whilst I wholeheartedly agree that council tax needs to increase, the way our money is being spent is not acceptable. It’s frankly outrageous. Any child who needs an iPad to help them in school should obviously get one, it’s a fantastic idea. EVERY secondary school pupil receiving an iPad is absolutely ridiculous. The council does not have an adequate IT department to support this, the school WiFi is non existent (confirmed by a head of department in PHS), who pays for insurance and repairs? The cash being thrown at the (admitted loss making) Tapestry is shameful. We could have dozens of full time teachers, support staff and elderly care staff instead of just 2 of your white elephant schemes. Just ridiculous. JUST PROVIDE STAFF! It’s not complicated.

Jim Finlay The roads are a disgrace and I'm not just talking about side roads, I'm talking A68, teachers struggle to afford pencils for each child, no green waste pickup ... the list goes on ........ and yet the council can afford to procure an iPad for EVERY child from P6 upwards in the borders !!! Apparently this is to reduce the austerity gap ........ someone at SBC needs to step up and explain that decision and spend on council tax money, especially when we are told kids spend too much time in front of "devices". It's not just the up front cost of iPads, they have to have an IT department support the devices, support the security i.e. anti-virus, information security, what happens when a child loses or drops an iPad or forgets their pin and it gets wiped and what about the iOS updates and management of that ? . ALL additional and ONGOING and RECURRING costs !!! Has SBC actually looked at the overall cost per device/pupil over the years, not to mention all the new kids coming through and devices out of date or obsolescent ... as I said, they have a duty to be transparent to the taxpayer i.e. You and me.

Jamie Green Lets refuse them. Kids are online enough atm it's the last thing they need. Actually stunned at how bad an idea this is. Mabye one two per classroom ect. Will be broken aswell and do you think ipads last forever cause they don't. Puplic should have a vote on issues like this. Don't normally moan but this is pathetic.

Graham Gray Scrap the pads and tapestry building and use the money for for vital services and roads and to save putting up council tax that most folk dont have the extra to pay.

Helen Ballantyne Apart from anything else it’s ridiculous to assume every family household has internet connection. The level of poverty in the Borders is staggering.

Sarah Jane D'Agrosa Scottish Borders Council Budget cuts, loss of valuable support staff and a crisis of confidence in the teaching profession and someone managed to justify 15.6 MILLION pounds to hand out ipads? I can almost guarantee you will lose half of them. What happens then? Report it to the teacher? The overworked and over-stressed teacher then has to deal with that on top of everything else? There will be thefts too. Many of the pupils will end up going without again and you'll end up dealing with a whole new set of problems. 'raising attainment and supporting equity' what does that even mean, really? The council creating convoluted and out of touch policies is not solving anything. You have a real problem in schools in the Borders and spending almost 16 million pounds on ipads when you say you need to make staff cuts is horrendous. At the end of the day the councillors aren't the ones dealing with abusive pupils head on and being driven out of their profession because they don't have the tools and the support network to make a real difference.

Carol Payne Total extravagance when Council services are being cut severely and the Council tax has gone up by 4%. Why does every single child need an iPad, one of the most expensive tablets on the market? If a child really hasn't got a tablet or laptop at home, fine loan them one, but giving one out to every child smacks of gross fiscal irresponsibility. IT is important nowadays, but I think the resources could be spent better with more teachers, smaller classes, and a better curriculum for children to learn at school, and some basic education, rather than this expensive grandiose plan.

Colin Turnbull Aye waste o money. Bring back chalk n slates. Guid enough for our grand faithers, guid enough for of grand kids. Bring back national service, polio and rickets too. What dae Ye think this is? The 21st century? 😆 Ya Fu**in’ loons.

David Millar It's a great idea and has proven to work in other countries.  Kids and parents can keep tabs on homework and school work which can only be a benefit . Give it a chance people.

Gareth Platts Looks like the public don't want you spending their hard earned tax money on extravagant trinkets and a building to house a piece of cloth. Who knew. Maybe you should actually listen to the public on this issue and scrap this idea before you make people poorer for no good reason.