Niigata City Board of Education, Japan

Educators in Japan are working to prepare their students for an increasingly technology-centric world — and the the Global and Innovation Gateway for All (GIGA) School Program is one initiative towards that goal. It provides all students with personal computers and high speed internet access.

Perhaps no district has taken this mission to heart quite like Niigata City — home to nearly 800K people and 167 schools — where iPad has become the go-to classroom device. While technology usage in Niigata was limited prior to GIGA, every elementary and junior high school in the district now has a 1:1 student to iPad ratio. When The Ministry of Education in Japan analyzed device usage in its latest annual survey, Niigata was at the top of the list, with students there using iPad nearly twice as often as the national average daily device usage. They’re using iPad to create, collaborate, and express their learning in ways that would have been impossible before.

Niigata leadership attributes the popularity of iPad, in part, to its ease of use. Teachers have found it familiar, approachable, and dynamic — it allows them to roam around the classroom, engage with students, and personalize instruction. Many teachers even take the learning, and iPad, outside. And most students take iPad home with them every day.

Leadership has also been extremely satisfied with the durability of iPad. In the GIGA device refresh, the government anticipated and allotted a 15% overage for replacement units. In their first deployment, Niigata’s iPad break-down rates — which include the inability to use a device for any reason — are six times lower than the government allotment, giving them the opportunity to invest remaining funds elsewhere.

Toshiro Katayama was a city administrator in Niigata when they chose to implement iPad into classrooms across the district. Now, as a principal, he’s witnessing the impact of the device on students in real-time.

“We’re raising kids to be trailblazers for the future. iPad plays an important role in that process, helping them to be confident and flourish in society,” says Katayama.

For Niigata City schools, iPad has helped introduce a new way to learn and educate. And above all, it’s a device that they trust and rely on — every day.