Students lose internet access, notes on personal learning devices amid Mobile Guardian app glitch

SINGAPORE – Hundreds of students in Singapore could not access the internet and classroom materials from their personal learning devices for at least a day due to a glitch in a management app installed in these devices.

The problem with the Mobile Guardian device management app installed on students’ learning devices affected those from at least three Ministry of Education (MOE) schools as early as July 30. Only iPad users were hit.

Some students reported not being able to turn on or turn off their iPads. Other problems students faced included not being able to connect to Wi-Fi and receiving an error message: “Guided Access app unavailable. Please contact your administrator.”

When the students could finally reboot their devices, they reported losing their saved notes.

A 16-year-old student from Methodist Girls’ School (MGS), who is sitting the O-level preliminary examination on Aug 2, told The Straits Times: “This has affected our learning. Some of us have lost our notes.”

Another MGS student, 15, said that teachers resorted to printing out worksheets for students whose iPads were not working. “We had no internet connection. We could not google anything or download our notes,” she said. 

A 13-year-old student from Nan Chiau High School said that some students who were supposed to take their weighted assessments on Aug 1 were unable to do so.

The three students did not want to be named.

In an e-mail on Aug 1, Nan Chiau High School’s IT department informed students that an update for the Mobile Guardian app had been rolled out that day to fix the problem. Students just had to connect their iPads to the internet to receive the update. Those facing Wi-Fi connectivity issues were advised to contact the school’s IT department.

Similarly, MGS’ IT department notified students of the problem via an e-mail on Aug 1.

“There are other schools that are facing the same issue, and this is beyond the school’s control,” the e-mail said. “The affected schools have since reported to the vendor... We are following up with the vendor closely, and will inform all as soon as the issue is resolved.”

Mobile Guardian helps parents manage their children’s device use, restricting screen time and access to specific websites and apps.

An MOE spokesman acknowledged the problem.

“Mobile Guardian has rolled out an app update to all iPad users to address these issues. MOE is working with schools to support students who may require further technical assistance. Our checks indicate that these technical issues are not related to the Mobile Guardian data breach incident in April,” the spokesman told ST.

It is not known how many schools were affected by the app glitch.

In April, Mobile Guardian’s user management portal at its headquarters in Surrey in Britain was

hacked, resulting in a data leak

involving the names and e-mail addresses of parents and teachers from five primary schools and 122 secondary schools.