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Good practice Imported

1,250 Tablets Bring Adaptive Math Software to Palau's Schools — With Lessons on What Training Gaps Cost

Palau · Koror · See the Palau profile · See the Koror profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 81% 33/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

JICA and Japanese partners distributed 1,250 tablets loaded with SuRaLa Net's adaptive math software to Palau's schools during COVID-19 disruptions; JICA's own evaluation candidly found equipment shortages and incomplete teacher training limited the project's impact.

1,250
Tablets distributed (2021-2022)
~16 elementary schools + 1 high school
Schools reached

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
JICA, Palau Ministry of Education, PADECO Co., SuRaLa Net Co. & Osaka Kyoiku University
Period
August 2021 – March 2022
Keywords
adaptive learning software, mathematics education, tablets, teacher training, pandemic response

Context

COVID-19 school closures and disruptions in late 2021 threatened learning continuity across Palau's small, dispersed school network.

Activities

From August 2021, Japan's JICA, together with PADECO Co., SuRaLa Net Co. and Osaka Kyoiku University, ran the 'Project for Improving Teaching and Learning Mathematics by Utilizing Tablets,' distributing 1,250 tablets loaded with SuRaLa Ninja — an individualised, adaptive math e-learning programme with a teacher dashboard for tracking progress — to Palau's roughly 16 elementary schools and its high school. The project closed with a ceremony at the Ministry of Education on 4 March 2022.

Results

JICA's own project report is unusually candid: it documents that classroom equipment was insufficient and that teachers were not fully trained to use the tablets, limiting how much of the platform's adaptive-learning design was actually put into practice.

Conclusions

The project is a useful, honestly-evaluated example of the gap that can open between distributing ed-tech hardware and building the teacher capability needed to use it well.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Short (< 1 year)
Staffing & skills
JICA project team, PADECO Co., SuRaLa Net Co., Osaka Kyoiku University

Conditions for success

  • Adaptive e-learning software paired with a teacher dashboard for tracking student progress

Common failure modes

  • JICA's own report found classroom equipment was insufficient and teachers were not fully trained, limiting how much of the adaptive-learning design was actually used

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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