News
Smartboard eyewash: A roadmap for making inequity in the education sector worse?
View(s):By Namini Wijedasa
The documents do not explain the price discrepancies between the two projects. But questions have been raised over why the Education Ministry wants to spend US$ 3,135,392.50 of local funds—drawn from the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL)—on high-priced Huawei units on the flimsy argument that smartboards bought separately with government funds must be “technically aligned” with those to be gifted to schools under a promised Chinese grant.
A costly eyewash
The Sunday Times last week exposed that Cabinet approval was granted on August 5, 2024, just six working days after the Elections Commission announced the Presidential poll, to buy 1,000 smartboards from Huawei at an estimated Rs. 940,000 per unit when the average price of boards bought for the education sector over the last five years was around Rs. 340,000 each.
The near-Rs 1mn price does not include the UPS, wiring, installation, delivery, maintenance or educational content, all of which the government must pay for separately. By contrast, the Rs. 300,000 quoted for the pirivena smartboards includes maintenance, delivery and installation.
The high-priced Huawei smartboards are to be ordered through the Sri Lanka State Trading Corporation (STC), as a single-source, direct contract. Quotations were not called from other suppliers and there is no competitive tender. The price was decided purely on the CIF (cost, insurance and freight) value cited by Huawei.
National procurement guidelines allow for direct contract as a means of purchasing goods, services or works from a single supplier source only “under exceptional circumstances” because it entails no competition. One of the situations under which this method is deemed appropriate is where standardisation of equipment “may” justify the additional purchases of the same type of goods to ensure compatibility with existing equipment.
Even so, the number of such items in the new procurement shall generally be less than 50 percent of the existing number; the price shall be “reasonable”; and the advantages of another make or source of equipment shall have been considered. There is no evidence of such conditions having been met.
Technically unsound
justification
The Education Ministry justifies the high-cost Huawei procurement stating that: “Devices must align technologically with already operational network systems, ensuring cyber security and high-definition distance education features.”
“This language doesn’t any make sense, even though it is written to give an air of informed authority,” said Sanjana Hattotuwa, a special advisor to the independent foundation, ICT4Peace, which specialises in global cybersecurity norms, and research on disinformation.
“The statement fails to address how only Huawei smartboards are being considered, given the existing infrastructure, and compatibility with the Education Ministry’s existing network access control system (NACS) and multimedia conference system (MCS),” he said. “The need for new equipment to ‘align’ with these systems is questionable and is likely a pretext for introducing potentially compromised technology.”
The Education Ministry already has a network access control system (NACS) and a multimedia conference system (MCS) which are fully operational with more than 500 smart boards across schools in Sri Lanka. This existing infrastructure was not provided through the Chinese grant but independently procured and installed by the Ministry.
Dr. Hattotuwa also pointed to oft-raised concerns regarding surveillance and data collection risks tied to Chinese technology companies, including Huawei. For example, if the smartboards are configured with microphones, this can potentially allow for remote audio surveillance that, if paired with contemporary AI mechanisms, can determine what subjects are talked about the most in whatever language during and outside the times schools are in session.
“Furthermore, the language in the Cabinet paper doesn’t address the lack of competitive bidding or the significantly higher costs associated with the proposed Huawei smartboards,” he continued. “By focusing on technological alignment and features, it diverts attention from these financial and procedural concerns, which suggests significant underlying issues with the procurement process.”
Why must they “align”?
The Sunday Times also found there was widespread misinformation regarding the STC’s costly purchase. Conversations with several officials not directly involved in the project proved they were under the impression that the STC was procuring the 1,000 smartboards under the Chinese grant— and that “if it’s Chinese aid, we have to buy Chinese products.”
These officials, while holding key positions, were not aware that the 1,000 smartboards the STC ordered from Huawei would be paid for with TRCSL funds; and that there was nothing (apart from the “technical alignment” excuse) stopping a competitive, open tender from being called.
The Chinese aid proposal does envisage expanding the existing platform to allow for 200 online simultaneous sessions and 1,000 registered classrooms, according to an STC document. Once the Chinese conference system is live, it says, “…this expansion hardware and software will be merged together [sic].”
“Huawei Idea hub ES2 65 boards will be installed at teaching classroom to provide conference and smart writing and screen projection facility,” it elaborates. “Huawei Idea hub B2 65 boards will be installed at learning classroom to provide conference and smart writing and screen projection facility.”
But several independent IT experts dismissed the Education Ministry’s “alignment” theory, observing that conferencing software will work regardless of the make of hardware.
“There is no necessity for providing high-specification smart boards under the justification that they must align with the China aid project,” one said, requesting anonymity. “Modern technologies, especially conferencing solutions, are largely platform-agnostic, meaning they do not rely on specific hardware. Web-based solutions are capable of supporting remote teaching and conferencing without needing high-end, proprietary equipment on both ends.”
This makes the argument for expensive, high-resolution smart boards unnecessary as more affordable options can seamlessly integrate with existing systems and technologies, he maintained.
Questions over motives
Like other IT experts, he questioned whether the decision to buy the smartboards directly from Huawei was motivated by “other factors, such as an intention to single-source the procurement for reasons unrelated to actual technological needs.”
“This raises concerns about transparency and whether the decision was driven by ulterior motives, rather than a genuine effort to select the most cost-effective solution for schools,” he said.
According to documents seen by the Sunday Times, the same Education Ministry received approval to provide digital equipment to 422 “pirivena” classrooms—which are monastic colleges for the education of Buddhist monks—in keeping with the former government’s digital transformation agenda in education. Funded by the Technology Ministry, this project placed the cost of each smartboard at Rs 300,000. And it was floated around the same time as the Ministry’s Huawei proposal.
The pirivena package includes two computers (an i5 laptop and desktop), a 65″ smart board (the same size as the Huawei boards), a UPS, a laser printer, and delivery, installation, maintenance, and user upskilling—all at a total estimated cost of Rs 350.26 million. This amounts to Rs 830,000 per classroom.
In contrast, the direct procurement of 1,000 smart boards from Huawei costs the government Rs 1.5 million per classroom for just the smart board, UPS, and associated services like delivery, installation, and maintenance. Where was the input of senior officials of the Education Ministry, Technology Ministry, TRCSL and STC in this deal?
Will the pirivena classrooms and the many other schools countrywide with non-Huawei digital equipment—including those that benefited from private sector donations—not be able to link up with the “conferencing facility” promised by China?
Is this a roadmap for making inequity in the education sector worse?
The best way to say that you found the home of your dreams is by finding it on Hitad.lk. We have listings for apartments for sale or rent in Sri Lanka, no matter what locale you're looking for! Whether you live in Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Matara, Jaffna and more - we've got them all!