Ricaud Auckbur spoke to us recently about the launch of the Mauritius Tablet PC Project. Mr. Auckbur, along with three other ALICT alumni - Mrs Kavita Purmessur, Mr Rajnish Hawabhay and Mr Kishun Baguant - were part of the Mauritius Tablet PC Project team. The nation-wide Tablet PC Project for Mauritius was launched on Thursday March 27th 2014 with the start of the distribution of 26,100 Tablet PCs to all Form V (Year V of secondary schooling , or Grade 10) educators and students. The Tablets, which were procured through an open tendering exercise, are 10.1" Android devices delivered with pedagogical content in several core subjects (French, English, Mathematics and others) along with a Classroom Management System. The Ministry of Education and Human Resources and its agencies, in particular the Mauritius Institute of Education are also developing additional online subject-wise resources contextualized to the Mauritian National Curriculum Framework for use by educators. A major training programme for 5500 educators is currently underway to familiarize schools with the use of the technology in classroom contexts. The Ministry of ICT, along with the Ministry of Education aims to connect all 155 secondary schools on the island with wifi on high speed broadband connectivity through fibre optics. The Tablet PC project will be expanded in 2014 and 2015 with further classes at secondary level to be connected. This ambitious national e-education programme complements the digitization of classrooms project that the Ministry has embarked upon since 2010 with the installation and usage of interactive projectors in all Primary schools. Were any futures thinking tools or methodologies used in the design of the project? In the inception phase, we scanned the horizon through a market sounding process, as a step towards ensuring that the approach for the Tablet PC project would be consistent and realistic in the Mauritian context, and as a tool to scan the potential and scope of providing one-to-one technology into the hands of students and educators. How were leadership skills applied in the development of the project? It is clear that without collective leadership, little could have been achieved for such a multi-faceted and complex project. The process of procurement was particularly challenging, and any it was ensured that the goal-setting for the procurement processes were SMART (Specific-Measurable-Achievable-Realistic and Time-bound). A PEST analysis is also important, albeit an informal one, to ensure that the many factors are considered: Political (many Ministries involved) - Environmental (Waste management) -Social (Ensuring online security of students in usage of tablets) - Technological (Which technology to use, in the light of fast obsolescence). Ricaud Auckbur Director E-Education Ministry of Education and Human Resources, Mauritius