TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Tainan has bought Taiwan’s first batch of 50 AI laptops for schools and will spend another NT$270 million (US$8.53 million) on AI education, the city government said Wednesday.
The laptops were introduced at Houjia Junior High School and given to 10 schools selected to lead AI education in the city. Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said students should be able to learn about AI in regular classrooms, not only in computer rooms.
Huang said early access to AI tools could help students build skills in robotics, drones, and artificial intelligence. He said the program should also support lessons connected to Tainan’s local culture, including Chikan Tower and Anping Fort.
The education bureau said Tainan formed a team of AI seed teachers in 2020 to study teaching tools, develop lessons, and promote competitions. It said tablet use in city schools reached 95% after the government began a one-tablet-per-student policy in 2022.
The new funding adds to Tainan’s four-year NT$22 billion plan to give each student access to a tablet and make every school smarter. The extra money will support generative AI learning and AI programming education.
Tainan Education Bureau Director Cheng Hsin-hui (鄭新輝) said the city has a strong foundation in AI software and course development. He said the laptops will give teachers and students more hands-on experience with AI tools.
The education bureau said the laptops can process data without sending it to external servers. It said this can better protect student privacy while giving schools stronger tools for AI education.
