Digitization of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister starts with one of the largest projects in history. In September – it’s hard not to mention that just before the elections – 370,000. 4th grade students are to receive laptops.
– We want this equipment to be the same, because the school should be a school of equal opportunities. It should not be the case that the one who has more affluent parents has better equipment, and the others either do not have a computer at all or have a worse model, Janusz Cieszyński, the government’s representative for cybersecurity, argued in an interview for the Polish Press Agency.
And here it is worth quoting the statement of the head of the Ministry of Education and Science. – When the tender for laptops for students ends, there will also be laptops for teachers – announced Przemysław Czarnek on Polsat News. This declaration means the need to purchase up to 400,000. computers. Together, there may be as many as 770,000.
Laptop specifications for students. Pretty powerful hardware, but some may feel left out
The Ministry of Education has published a detailed specification of laptops that should be provided by those entering the tender. The most important parameters include: memory of at least 8GB (with the option of expanding to 16GB), 255GB disk (SSD), graphics card integrated with the processor, screen resolution min. 1920×1080 pixels (full HD), screen brightness min. 220cd/m2. The battery capacity is specified at a minimum of 37 Wh (Li-Ion and/or Li-Po technology). Computers must also have a legal 64-bit operating system. And here’s an important note – it doesn’t have to be Windows, it can be Linux.
The processor deserves a separate paragraph, because it is it that narrows down the number of devices that match the specification to the greatest extent. We read in it that the CPU should score at least “1100 points in the CrossMark test”.
In the trade press, the main allegations concern this parameter. Intel processors are the best in the ranking. AMD chips – quite powerful – fare worse in this particular test, although in the twin UL Benchmark PCMark 10 ranking, Intel’s competition fares much better.
Effect? The 6-core AMD Ryzen 5 5500U processor, launched in 2021, loses to the year-old Core i3-1115G4 system, which has only two cores.
Expert: This raises my sincere surprise
In an interview with Gazeta.pl President of the Polish Information Processing Society Wiesław Paluszyński admits to being surprised by the specifications of the laptops included in the terms of the contract.
– The industry has been working on the recommendations of the Public Procurement Office regarding the purchase of computer equipment for quite a long time. She indicated specific benchmarks that the equipment should meet. I would like these recommendations to be reflected in the specification included in the tender for laptops for students. And it looks like it isn’t. – says. – The specification should be at least the same as in the recommendations or better. And not worse, he adds.
It also points to another problem. – The situation is also surprising for another reason. It would seem that the equipment ordered for students should meet the requirements of the regulation published by the Ministry of Education, which describes the minimum requirements for equipment applicable in schools. The specification announced by the Chancellery of the Prime Minister does not refer to this regulation. It’s as if there was no agreement between the Chancellery and the Ministry of Education. This really surprises me,” he concludes.
Laptops for students. Some manufacturers don’t stand a chance from the start
As Gazeta.pl’s interlocutor explains, the specification of the tender excludes some producers in advance.
Tablets fell out of it, contrary to the regulation of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. And also computers that are used to run applications in the cloud. Why is our country making this move? What is the substantive justification for this? unknown
– said the expert.
It is also not known why the specification does not mention that the computers should be equipped with software that allows the use of security solutions of the National Educational Network.
Head of PTI: It’s not about buying equipment for kids
According to Wiesław Paluszyński, there are more doubts. – It is reasonable to ask: Why does the state want to provide these computers to children? It’s supposed to be a more universal device that you can play on, he said.
He also explained that the new tender does not mention software that, for example, will protect the laptop from sale. – It may turn out that some will not respect this equipment, since it is free – he assessed.
The president of the Polish Information Technology Society also admitted that he lacks a broader vision in the activities of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland.
It’s not about buying kids gear. Only that this equipment should be used for a specific purpose in the didactic process. It’s not just about games and other fun. Meanwhile, there is no synergy between what the MEiN declares and the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, apart from the willingness to provide children with some equipment
he said.
Where does the money for laptops come from? PLN 760 million from the “off-budget” hole
It is also worth paying attention to the source of project financing. The PiS government has reached for its favorite trick – the money is to be provided by the Polish Development Fund. And this means that the PLN 760 million that will have to be spent on equipment for children will not be visible in the central budget. Therefore, the expenditure will not increase the official deficit.
The government stipulates that this is only a temporary financing mechanism, an advance payment to the account of funds from the National Reconstruction Plan. And we hear this translation once again. Almost a year ago, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki proudly announced that Poland would launch its own KPO. She spent the money on retention programs. – We will not wait for the EU commission to approve our programs – said the head of the government. “I have instructed the Ministry of Finance to provide adequate resources,” he said.
Will the industry supply hundreds of thousands of laptops?
There is also no doubt that the government’s idea brought a smile to the faces of producers and retailers. According to IDC data published in mid-January, almost all manufacturers recorded a decrease in sales. In the fourth quarter of 2022, compared to the previous year, sales were lower by 28.1 percent.
According to Gartner, the decline was even deeper – it reached almost 30 percent, which means the worst results since the 1990s. It is worth noting another important factor influencing these results – the industry is falling from a high horse. The pandemic caused a significant increase in sales.
The PC industry has experienced some very unusual ups and downs over the last 11 years. After an extraordinary period of growth in 2020-2021 – caused by the pandemic – the market has clearly started a downward trend. It will run until early 2024.
– we read in the company’s report.
In the context of all these data, there should be no problem to deliver the equipment. The global computer market is approx. 286 million units. The largest manufacturers sold 60-80 million (Lenovo, HP, Dell) computers, the smaller ones 20-25 million (Apple, Asus, Acer), and the smallest manufacturers sold a total of nearly 52 million units equipment.
Source: Gazeta
Mabel is a talented author and journalist with a passion for all things technology. As an experienced writer for the 247 News Agency, she has established a reputation for her in-depth reporting and expert analysis on the latest developments in the tech industry.
